Gucci restarts from London

Flora, clamps, Jackie bags, and red velvet tuxedos from well-known ad campaigns are all aspects of Tom Ford, Frida Giannini, Alessandro Michele’s works at Gucci, as well as contributions by Sabato De Sarno, who just made his debut. These elements are presented collectively without nostalgia. The Gucci Cosmos exhibition, which opened last night at 180 Studios space in London, blends the past and present of the double-G brand effortlessly, telling a visual story. However, upon further reflection, the exhibit appears to convey an additional sentiment through a message: the Kering group’s fashion house enters a new era with a fresh approach to its creative dna, aimed at launching a unique narrative. It comes full circle in London, where G ucci o Gucci worked as a lift attendant at the Savoy Hotel before founding the brand in Florence in 1921. Now, a new boutique has opened on New Bond Street in Mayfair, replacing the previous store on Old Bond Street.

The 1,400-square-meter megastore served as an art gallery and now reveals Europe’s inaugural Gucci salon. The current focus is on Gucci Cosmos and the house’s most distinctive models made in the 102 years of its history. The touring exhibition began in Shanghai last April and is scheduled to visit Paris and Kyoto in 2024. «It is an emotional journey, not a retrospective», Maria Luisa Frisa, who curated the project created by renowned British artist Es Devlin, said. «It is a continuous story with no sense of nostalgia. Each creative director has contributed to the brand’s vibrancy. Exploring the archives is incredible, as each time you see the objects with a fresh perspective, settling into new energy». These energies seem to make Gucci pulsate like a living organism of creativity in rooms that open and close in Ancora Red, named by Sabato De Sarno. The Savoy lobby and the first elevator, Zeotrope and the equestrian world, Eden and the floral, the giant twins which serve as projection screens for the looks, the precious archive, the cabinet of wonders and the carousel. Finally, Gucci Ancora. Within the mirrored room, there is a central semi-transparent parallelepiped structure with screens that display personal memories, hypnotic appearing and disappearing of phrases, accompanied by a visual and sound installation featuring the voices of Es Devlin and Sabato De Sarno himself. (All rights reserved)