GUCCI AND ART
The Italian Maison becomes an “art gallery”.
Gucci has always been a fashion brand closely connected with Art, the ideal medium to communicate values such as beauty, opulence, transgression, luxury and irreverence.
The bond with the art starts from its owner, François Pinault, among the greatest art collectors in the world. Its collection has a value that exceeds $ 1.2 billion and includes over 3,000 works of modern and contemporary art.
Even more than ever, art also arrives in Gucci’s fashion collections and advertising campaigns thanks to the direction taken with the guidance of Alessandro Michele chameleonic Creative Director of the maison, which allows himself to be freely contaminated by artistic and philosophical influences.
Alessandro Michele, creative and beauty lover, managed to build Gucci’s success by working alongside Italian and international artists, focusing communication campaigns on the artistic and aesthetic value, opening the Instagram channel @guccibeauty and combining works of Classical Art with the personal vision of beauty of the fashion house.
Gucci’s collaborative projects with the art world are truly numerous: among these “#GucciGram“, “# 24HourAce“,”#TFWGucci“ and finally the project “GucciGig“, all united by the aim of opening a dialogue with the creative community of the digital world.
Among the collaborations with the most important artists on the international scene we can mention the English illustrator Angelica Hicks, whose designs appeared on unisex Limited Edition t-shirts. In addition to the t-shirts also the wool cardigans, the bomber jackets and the sweaters from the “Gucci DIY” have been personalized by artists such as Angela Deane, Marc Burckhardt, Amber Vittoria, Ashley Longshore and Isabella Cotier.
Most famous is the artistic collaboration with Ignasi Monreal, born in 2015 on the occasion of the first “#GucciGram” project. Shortly afterwards, on the Gucci Art Walls in Lafayette Street in New York and in Largo La Foppa in Milan, Ignasi Monreal’s illustrations for Gucci Bloom, the first women’s fragrance by Alessandro Michele, came to life.
In 2016 it was the turn of “Gucci 4 room”, When Alessandro Michele chose four artists to create an interactive online experience in a virtual space. The Japanese Chiharu Shiota, Daito Manabe and Mr., together with the co-creator of the GucciGhost collection, Trouble Andrew, have created four surreal spaces based on the new Gucci motifs and themes.
In 2017 Monreal illustrated the book “Gucci Gift 2017“ And in 2018 the campaign”Utopian Fantasy”, Where Ignasi has created works inspired by famous paintings, such as “Ophelia “by John Everett Millais (1852). In the video of the campaign, the artist plays the role of the curator of a hypothetical Gucci gallery.
Not only artists and illustrators but also street artists such as Coco Capitán, the Spanish artist who reinvented the famous Gucci logo in a “graffiti” version for the Autumn / Winter 2017 collection, nicknamed “The Alchemist’s Garden“. A solo exhibition of the artist, “Is It Tomorrow Yet?” inaugurated the first Gucci Place presented in Korea at the Daelim Museum.
Or the much discussed as appreciated Gucci Ghost Collection With Trouble Trevor Andrew, Brooklyn street artist who for years has re-proposed the monogram “GG “on the streets of New York.
Gucci brings art not only on the catwalk or in its own adv campaigns, but promotes it on the field!
ARTIST IS PRESENT is the exhibition curated by Maurizio Cattelan, inspired by the performance THE ARTIST IS PRESENT by Marina Abramović, hosted in 2018 at the Yuz Museum, West Bund Shanghai. The exhibition project curated by Cattelan, and promoted by Gucci with a video of the making of directed by the artist Yuri Ancarani, analyzed the multiple forms and different meanings that the act of appropriation assumes in our age.
Also in 2018 the Gucci Garden, museum dedicated to the famous Italian fashion house, with famous clothing and bags. Designed by Alessandro Michele, the space houses a boutique with unique items, the Osteria da Gucci restaurant of the chef Massimo Bottura, and an exhibition area curated by art critic Maria Luisa Frisa.
Gucci also brings art to social networks with the Instagram account @guccibeauty that pays homage to the infinite varieties of the concept of beauty by playing with the masterpieces of art which, for the occasion, become a source of inspiration in terms of fashion and beauty. Each image is accompanied by the comments of writers and art critics who contextualize the work and focus attention on the most “glamorous” details. The last intervention is by the artist Emma Allegretti.
Finally, Gucci managed to bring art into the homes of the nationalpopular public, when, during the last edition of Sanremo, Achille Lauro, supported by Alessandro Michele, gave life to a real “Art performance” on stage, reinterpreting some of the key personalities of the art world.
And you, are you ready to know the next artistic collaborations of Gucci?
