The two most basic words one could use upon a visit to Florence to describe the city are “history” and “art.” Combined, these words become synonymous with fashion.
While a single painting can be an artist’s great success, a designer is only as good as their latest line. A high-end brand like Gucci has been in the game for 96 years, and its way of creating art through handbags and attire has been required to evolve drastically in past years.
I hadn’t realized Gucci had such humble beginnings in the quaint city of Florence. According to the Gucci Museo, founder Guccio Gucci was a lift boy at London’s Savay Hotel when a grand idea struck him to mix Italian craftsmanship with British sensibility to create luxury leather goods like never before.
It came as a shock to think this high-end brand — I can’t even afford a key chain from its line — all began with a bellhop and a classy idea.
As I turned the first corner of the museum, I felt as if I had stepped into a time machine, as the world of rolling luggage and duffel bags rapidly vanished, and I saw vintage brown, boxy suitcases that I immediately imagined being carried by a 1930s woman dressed to the nines with silk gloves and pearls and preparing to voyage off to some spectacular place.
As I moved from room to room I noticed Gucci is no different from a famous artist known for a signature quirk.
It’s not just a classic logo or monogram print. It’s the timelessness of the attire and handbags. I kept imagining the gown on my left or the coat on my right being worn by bold, confident women throughout history. Gucci’s signature talent was knowing his audience.
My thoughts were confirmed as I saw a dazzling silver, beaded, Gucci evening gown previously worn by Blake Lively and a chiffon gold dress that was worn by Jessica Chastain.
It amazed me how nearly a century later the artistry of Gucci had maintained the luxurious feeling the liftboy imagined in 1921.
I found myself dumbfounded thinking there are people who don’t consider fashion to be art. In my opinion, the hardest job as an artist would be a designer.
Fashion and style are ever-changing, and while many artists aren’t acclaimed geniuses until after they die, for designers the time to shine is in the now or never. A successful brand requires approval of the public in the present.
Fashion done right is a commitment to showing the change of men, women, society and even the world through attire. It’s art that can be worn. It offers a perspective created by the most imaginative minds that embodies how you want to present yourself to the world.
The brands that illustrate this true sense of artistry are similar to Gucci. They change with the times yet somehow hold on to an aesthetic that still resembles what the designer wanted to show the world way back when he was just a lift boy.
