The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2023 - Issue 34

biteexhibition cessories featuring the distinctive GG-print canvas created by Aldo Gucci in the 1960s, and the Disney-print luggage from the ‘Epilogue’ collection designed by Alessandro Michele in 2020. The rotating display, soundtrack of tick- ing clocks and the names of different cities worldwide will make you feel like you’re in a captivating time capsule. The Portals space and mirrored ceilings embody the differ- ent Gucci creative directors' design knowledge, ideas, and inspirations. It highlights how each tapped into the soul of the fashion house to rework it and reveal its essential modernity. This room and two smaller adjoining spaces feature multimedia dioramas placed inside a different Guc- ci luggage and inspired by cultural icons like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Princess Grace of Monaco, and Diana, Princes of Wales and la-dolce-vita-era Rome. As you ascend to the next world, you’ll cross an area illus- trating the evolution of the double GG logo. The circular Zoetrope space is punctuated with immersive large for- mat screens with evocative video footage, a soundscape of galloping hooves and a voice reciting equestrian-inspired words to the equine rhythm. Gucci's equestrian icons in- clude the double-ring horsebit bar on the iconic loafer and the signature green-red-green Web stripe inspired by the strap that holds a horse's saddle in place. The horsebit hardware presents a version of the original loafer from the early 1960s, a 1960s belt, a 1970s wool and suede dress, and a new platform loafer worn with an all- over Web precious leather jacket and culottes from Sabato De Sarno’s debut SS24 collection. Zoetrope also demon- strates how the creative directors playfully subverted equestrian’s traditional aristocratic practices, such as the Tom Ford-designed riding crop and a horsebit black leath- er corset by Alessandro Michele. The next world, Eden, brings to life the tale of Flora, an ex- quisite and delicately naturalistic image of plants and fauna from 1966. A silk scarf created for Princess Grace of Mona- co featured a design by acclaimed Italian artist and illustra- tor Vittorio Accornero de Testa, commissioned by Rodolfo Gucci. It became the leitmotif for Gucci’s 1981 ready-to- wear collection presented in the Sala Bianca at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti, which ignited the artistry of Tom Ford, Frida Giannini, Alessandro Michele and Sabato De Sarno. This light and mirror-filled circular space makes you feel like you’re inside the vaults of a Florentine palazzo. The biosphere’s diversity and beauty are symbolised in an in- stallation of larger-than-life white sculptures of flowers and insects featured in Accornero’s design suspended above key archive pieces. It embodies how the elegant pattern was used, reused and remixed, such as the hypnotic Flora-print silk minidress from 1969 and a Frida Giannini floral print dress created for the 2008 Gucci Flora fragrance campaign. Alessandro Michele’s signature embroidered shear- ling-lined denim jacket with a L’Aveugle Par Amour motto, Tom Ford’s floral print ‘Jackie’ bag from Spring-Summer 1999 and a series of silk scarves and fabric bags are dis- played in this section. Overhead, you’ll hear a soundtrack of brushstrokes, water drops and a voice reciting the dif- ferent colours featured in the Flora design, mimicking the artist’s space as if it were Accornero talking to himself as he painted. Upon leaving Eden, you’ll be awed by a pair of monumen- tal 10-metre-tall white statues hovering above the floor in the Two stunning space. Lying on their sides, like guards at a long-lost temple, the statues’ blank canvases feature a mesmerising projection image loop of men’s and women’s suits from Gucci’s past and present. Essential items include the unisex red velvet suit by Tom Ford in 1996, a striking Frida Giannini-designed checked suit with a cinched waist and Alessandro Michele’s sparklingly floral unisex designs. Archivio explores the origins of Gucci’s most iconic bags in a breathtaking space with a mirrored ceiling, creating a feeling of infinity. This maze-like world is reminiscent of the Gucci Archive in Florence and has walls lined with many cabinets and drawers. Enthusiastic bag lovers will be in their element with modern yet timeless classics display- ing the Bamboo 1947, the Jackie 1961, the Horsebit 1955, the Gucci Diana and the Dionysus. It also features a rare and colourful 1960s hemp interpreta- tion of the Guccio Gucci-designed Bamboo bag, alongside a revisited leather version from the 1990s, an early example of the Jackie bag with its signature piston clasp and Web stripe, and a late 1970s update designed with the legendary GG pattern. There’s a red leather bamboo-handle tote from the early 1990s that Alessandro Michele reimagined as the Gucci Diana in 2020. The two bags bearing the GG logo include an early-1970s style in black leather defined by its rounded version of the signature Interlocking G emblem and the debut GG Mar- mont in white matelassé leather designed by Alessandro Michele in 2016. Sabato De Sarno’s Jackie Notte, a bucket bag with snap-hook closure and Web strap from the SS24 collection and a patent leather Bamboo 1946 in the new signature Rosso Ancora shade of red, are also on display. Inside the Cabinet of Wonders, you’ll find a stunning three- metre-high monolithic cube covered in deep red lacquer and filled with drawers and compartments that mechan- ically slide in and out. The accompanying sound installa- tion accentuates and multiples the sound of the cabinets’ mechanical movements to reveal an eclectic collection of garments, accessories and trinkets. It contains everything from a 2001 Tom Ford collection look with a black leather bustier to a 2006 Frida Giannini golden evening gown. A GG velvet bag with a metal and rhinestone handle, a punk-inspired spherical leather with metal spikes from 2019 by Alessandro Michele and a crystal-embellished Jackie Notte bag from 2023 by Sabato De Sarno will take your breath away. Also present is a selection of singular jewellery spanning over six decades: pieces from Sabato De Sarno’s Marina Chain collection, animal-shaped metal objects from the early 1970s, a Tom Ford-era electric guitar and a look worn by Harry Styles at Coachella. In Carousel, a parade of 25 mannequins wearing Gucci clothing from the 1970s to the present is displayed on a