The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2022 - Issue 31

bitedesignerprofile Kennedy carried The Jackie. It relaunched in 1999 in several colours and variations and is said to have started the era of the Gucci ‘It’ bag. In 1966, Gucci commissioned illustrator Vittorio Accorne- ro to design the Flora silk scarf print for Princess Grace of Monaco, an iconic pattern revisited by former creative direc- tor Frida Giannini and current creative director Alessandro Michele in his Aria collection. Botticelli's Allegory of Spring inspired the print, depicting the nymph Chloris reborn as Flo- ra (Spring) in a gown imprinted with poppies, roses, violets, daisies and chrysanthemums. The seventies saw Gucci open a store in Tokyo and Maurizio Gucci, Rodolfo’s son, moved to New York to work with his uncle Aldo until 1982. The fashion house opened a store ded- icated to clothing on 699 Fifth Avenue in New York, while another on 689 Fifth Avenue focused on shoes, bags, luggage and accessories. They expanded into fragrances in 1975, with their first scent Gucci No. 1, followed by Gucci Guilty, Flora by Gucci, Gucci by Gucci and Gucci Bloom. Gucci's first ready-to-wear presentation shown at the Sala Bi- anca in 1981 in Florence played heavily on the Flora print. The following year, Rodolfo took over the leadership of the company. Maurizio took over the reins when his father died, pushing out his cousin and uncle. Toward the end of the dec- ade, Maurizio teamed with Bahrain-based investment bank- ing Investcorp, which purchased 50 per cent of Gucci shares from the family. He eventually sold them his shares, ending the family's involvement in the brand. Tom Ford’s appointment as creative director and his first collection for Fall 1995, which focused on jet-set glamour, brought the label back to the forefront of fashion. A year later, Maurizio was gunned down in front of his office in Milan. It took two years before his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani was iden- tified as the conspirator behind the murder. CEO Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford became the architects of the ultimate luxury brand revival. In the mid-90s, Ford’s collections set the sleek, sexy, modern style of the fashion house and its evening glamour attracted Hollywood A-listers. He was responsible for Madonna’s be- dazzled trousers, Jennifer Lopez’s sparkly dress, Charlize Theron’s Oscar look, and other iconic Gucci red carpet out- fits. In 2002, Frida Giannini, who previously worked for Fen- di, joined the accessories department. Two years later, after Ford left, she became creative director of accessories, women's ready-to-wear, and menswear. Giannini contributed functional chic and essential house glamour to the brand. She and CEO Patrizio di Marco em- phasised Gucci’s Italian craftsmanship, archival iconography and jet-set lifestyle. However, in 2014, following a slowdown in sales, di Marco left the company, followed by Giannini a month later. Under CEO Marco Bizzarri, Giannini’s deputy and head accessories designer Alessandro Michele became creative director after showing his quirky and androgynous aesthetic for the men’s Fall 2015. Having revisited Gucci’s iconic GG logo, canvas bags and horsebit loafers, which he turned into fur-lined slippers and clogs, the collection catered for a younger crowd. The logo bags came hand-painted with flowers or embroidered with in- sects. He did the same with the Aria collection in April 2021, which marked the brand’s 100th birthday, with signature de- signs including the Bamboo bag and Flora motif, and intro- duced an innovative tie-up with Balenciaga. During the pandemic lockdown in 2021, which affected the traditional fashion weeks, Michele announced the fashion Gucci image courtesy of Mert & Marcus