From equestrian elegance to maximalist fantasy, Gucci has navigated a century of reinventions with an unwavering gaze on desire. In a universe where fashion dictates not only what we wear but how we feel, few houses have kept pace with, and often anticipated, the spirit of the age like this emblem.
Founded in 1921 in Florence, Gucci has traversed decades of transformation, oscillating between aristocratic discretion, provocative glamour and intellectual exuberance. Today, under a new creative direction, this Italian brand enters a more refined phase, yet no less audacious. A story of excess and perpetual reinvention, as only true luxury can live.
Florentine heritage and equestrian roots
The story begins with Guccio Gucci, captivated by the leather goods he encountered at the Hotel Savoy in London, where he worked as a porter. Inspired by British elegance, he returned to Italy to open a shop specialising in travel luggage and equestrian items, an aesthetic still present today in the horse-bit motif and the iconic green-red-green stripe. This heritage, firmly rooted in Tuscan artisanal savoir-faire, became the brand’s foundation in the decades that followed.
Gucci’s initial focus lay in saddlery, an unsurprising choice for an Italy still driven by horses and carriages. But with the advent of the automobile and the rise of luxury tourism, the house quickly became best known for its travel bags and leather accessories for Italy’s elite. When international sanctions made leather scarce in the 1930s, Gucci responded creatively with alternative materials such as hemp and bamboo.
Thus, in 1947, one of the brand’s most iconic creations emerged: the Bamboo bag. Inspired by the shape of a saddle, the bag innovated by using Japanese bamboo: lightweight, resilient and finished with a lacquered handle and clasp. To this day, each bamboo handle is shaped and polished by hand by master artisans, preserving a time-honoured technique. In the years that followed, new icons emerged: in 1953, shortly after Guccio Gucci’s death, his son Aldo introduced the Horsebit loafers, elegant leather shoes adorned with a small metal horse-bit detail, another nod to the brand’s equestrian origins. Celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Francis Ford Coppola and Sophia Loren helped turn them into cult objects. Other symbols entered the Gucci lexicon: the Horsebit wallet of 1955, the Flora scarf created in 1966 especially for Grace Kelly by artist Vittorio Accornero, and of course, the Jackie bag. Originally named the Fifties Constance, this bag was renamed in 1961 in honour of Jacqueline Kennedy, who frequently used it, bestowing upon it an aura of timeless elegance. Gucci was thus becoming the emblem of the international jet-set. But, as in many Italian family stories, growth came hand in hand with internal conflicts and, by the 1980s, the brand seemed to have lost part of its soul…
Tom Ford: desire reborn
It took until the 1990s for Gucci to be reborn with new vitality. Tom Ford’s entry in 1994 marked one of the most electrifying chapters in contemporary fashion. Ford brought a daring, sexual and cinematic vision to the brand, transforming it into a global phenomenon. From provocative satin dresses to scorching advertising campaigns, Gucci became synonymous with pure desire. The logo was proudly revived, and the Gucci woman became strong, glamorous and irresistible.
Michele and the baroque revolution
After a more restrained period, Alessandro Michele’s arrival in 2015 signalled another turning point, this time more philosophical than sensual. Michele broke away from the previous aesthetic, introducing a visual language rich in historical, cultural, queer and even metaphysical references. His Gucci was inclusive, intellectual and maximalist. It coupled Victorian lace with trainers, pearl necklaces with velvet blazers, Marie Antoinette with Gen Z. Under his creative direction, even the concept of gender was deconstructed, fashion became fluid, questioning norms and celebrating difference. Michele built, above all, a cult community.
Sabato de Sarno and the return to the essential
After Michele’s apogee, many wondered where the maison would go next. The answer came quietly in 2023, with the appointment of Sabato de Sarno as creative director. Discreet and largely unknown to the public, de Sarno took on the task of rewriting Gucci’s narrative for a new chapter: less spectacle, more subtle desire. His debut revealed a fresh vocabulary: clean silhouettes, refined cuts, understatement sensuality. De Sarno’s Gucci remains luxurious, but it no longer shouts. It whispers. It replaces theatricality with intention, noise with nuance, signalling a new era of quiet glamour.
The empire on the big screen
Gucci’s legacy weaves not only through leather and silk, but also through ambition, scandal, and for many, blood, sweat and tears. These ingredients spawned the 2021 film House of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott. Featuring Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani and Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, the film delves into the real-life drama behind the Florentine empire: a web of family rivals, lust and power, culminating in Maurizio’s murder in 1995, ordered by his ex-wife. Based on Sara Gay Forden’s non-fiction House of Gucci, the film captures not only the rise and fall of a dynasty, but also the tension between family legacy and the professionalisation of Italian luxury in the 1980s and 90s. While the film exposes the human frailties behind the glamour, it also reinforces Gucci’s near-mythological resilience, its ability to reinvent itself even after the founders had fallen, proving that sometimes, the most enduring luxury emerges from chaos.
Between the past and the now
Kering, the group to which Gucci belongs, and Gucci itself announced the appointment of Demna as the new creative director of the brand, beginning in July 2025. Demna, artistic director of Balenciaga since 2015, has redefined modern luxury, gaining global recognition and solidifying his authority within the industry.
Perhaps no other fashion house reflects the tensions and cycles of the industry as authentically as Gucci. Its capacity to reinvent itself without renouncing the past is what makes it eternal. At a time when the world increasingly values authenticity, time and purpose, Gucci shows that true luxury lies not only in the pieces but in the coherence of its evolution. Between excess and reinvention, Gucci remains an authentic, and sometimes unsettling, mirror of our time. And that is precisely why it continues to fascinate us.
