In 2003, the world was exposed to one of the most provocative campaigns provided by the fashion industry.
A super-storm erupted after a Gucci model - then under the artistic direction of Tom Ford - revealed the assimilation of the international fashion brand logo in a most discreet area of her body.
These were Gucci's daring rise days after a crisis the brand went through in recent years under the leadership of Mauricio Gucci, the grandson of Gucci Gucci, a maker of leather handbags and wallets for aristocrats.
Gucci the grandfather founded the fashion house when he opened in 1921 a small family business in Florence.
He died in '53, and in the days that followed his descendants expanded the business to stores around the world, a move that matched the fashion house, among others, to Jacqueline Kennedy and Grace Kelly who flaunted the brand's moccasins in a handbag combined with bamboo launched in 1947 which became items Icons.
Tom Ford, Photo: Reuters, Matan Mager
In 1981 the brand entered the clothing business and introduced an innovative clothing line.
The move was a success for several years, but in the last decade of the Gucci dynasty's grandson's career, the fashion house declined in size and lost all its splendor.
It was at this point that Tom Ford, a young American designer who took over the artistic management of the business, came into the picture.
He revived the brand and made Gucci a young, kicking and coveted icon.
Ford's era in the company is considered Gucci's golden age, with blatant designs, dripping sexuality and bold campaigns.
The brand gained a loyal customer base, which also included the singer Madonna who became a die-hard fan of the line led by Ford and during the 90s wore quite a few of its designs.
The fashion house is now celebrating its 100th anniversary, and the film "Gucci House" - we will return to it later - on the history of the family business, which provided moves from both realities and perceptions in the industry between Ford and current artistic director Alessandro Michela, was appointed in 2015. Bo to this day.
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"When I was a kid I was exposed to the brand in the days when Tom Ford was the home designer and took the brand to the forefront of the stage," says designer Alon Livne.
"I remember the bold collections and the sexy campaigns. They kept talking about things Ford did that were not there before and to me these are the brand's heyday."
Birch also refers to the same campaign that featured in Vogue magazine the Gucci logo on the model's pubic area.
"It was something very sensational, it's something that could not happen today in the #metoo era and would not pass quietly," he says.
"It was a time when in fashion even if extreme, unusual things were presented, it would be accepted as art. Today we live in an age where if you do and express something that is not according to conventions - a storm starts on the net."
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Ford ended his time at Gucci in 2004 due to creative disagreements with management.
While he set out on his own, many designers were afraid to step into his big shoes.
The one who took the reins with great courage and success was Frida Giannini, the bag designer of the brand who was brought to Gucci by Ford himself four years before his departure.
While Ford, in order to inspire a new spirit in the company, deliberately ignored the brand history, Janini, who grew from within, went back to the archive and cleverly combined tradition with an understanding that a new and up-to-date design line should be introduced.
In media interviews, Giannini stated at the time that she wanted to see her designs on the street, create clothes that people would like to wear and not just clothing for shows and for stars for red carpet events.
"If people can not go into a store and find that particular item, it means that what you are doing and what you have designed are a joke," she said.
From a Gucci show from the beginning of the month in Los Angeles, Photo: Getty Images
She began collaborating with various musicians, including Madonna and Rihanna, with special capsule collections, in a limited edition.
In her designs Janini included floral prints and created colorful items with long and narrow cuts, abandoning eroticism in shades of black and silver from Ford. Finally Janini parted ways with the brand surprisingly and in a rather mediated way.
Mikla, as mentioned, accepted the appointment to the position of artistic designer and continued the line of his predecessor in creating collections that combine innovations and trends alongside iconic and classic items.
Concurrent with Michela's appointment, Gucci was joined by Marco Bizarre as the company's president.
He paved the way for the fashion house towards extraordinary business success.
In the production process, strict attention was paid to the issue of sustainability and environmental protection through the use of consumables, while moving to clothing items combined with synthetic furs.
Frida Giannini, Photo: Getty Images, Matan Mager
With the entry of Mikla into the role he chose to rejuvenate the brand and began to operate strongly on social media, and between the years 2019-2016 Gucci’s sales even doubled.
But then the corona landed and significantly minimized sales.
To restart in the shadow of the closures and isolations, the Gucci fashion house and the French fashion house Balenciaga teamed up for the first time in a collaboration that included a collection rich in logos that successfully starred on social media and earned the nickname - "Gucciaga".
Following the success of the move, the fashion house Versace and Fendi decided to join forces in a collection called "Panda".
We may hear of similar collaborations in the coming year as well.
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Nostalgic and queer
"Gucci is one of the most powerful fashion houses today," notes fashion theorist Leroy Chopin.
One does not have to look at the fashion house's reports to understand its grip on the market.
It is enough to see that it is the most popular brand on resale sites like The RealReal, which is a good indication of the importance of one brand or another, to understand that the hype around Gucci is relevant outside the social network as well.
"In the last decade, the old fashion house has changed its attitude. Thanks to Alessandro, it has become from a fashion house associated with the jet set to one of the most prominent representatives of new generation fashion: very nostalgic, maximalist and perhaps most importantly - also very queer."
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According to Chopin, Michela promotes season after season designs that intentionally confuse accepted gender codes, with the feminine becoming masculine and backward.
"It's enough to take a peek at the extroverted performance - and some would say the female on purpose - of singer Harry Styles to understand what it is all about.
Honeysuckle Kedar, curator and fashion historian, estimates that Gucci has been in a peak period since Alessandro Michela took on the role of designer.
"He introduced a new spirit to the brand, with a kicking line. He is very creative and takes creative risks, different from his predecessors and his collections are always surprising. The fashion house is run on the one hand. "The focus is on those who do not know the brand's heritage and allow the younger generation to get to know and be exposed to the history of fashion in an experiential way."
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The fashionable film "Gucci House" directed by Ridley Scott, will hit theaters across the country this coming Thursday, November 25th.
The book "Gucci House, The Sensation of Murder, Glamor and Greed", written in 2001 by Sarah J. Forden, is the source of inspiration for a film that tells the plot of Gucci's Italian fashion empire until the murder of the head of the fashion house - the grandson Maurizio Gucci by his ex-wife Patricia Reggiani in 1995, an event that agitated the fashion and entertainment industry at the time.
The choice of Lady Gaga for the character of the divorcee Patricia Reggiani, alongside the actor Adam Driver who plays the character of Maurizio Gucci, is expected to provoke quite a bit of discourse on the subject.
Alessandro Michela, Photo: EPI, Matan Mager
According to designer Barak Lahav, the reason why Gucci manages to maintain a high branding and a growing fan base over 100 years of existence is related to daring, relevance and trendiness.
"This is a fashion house that seeks to be special with the help of exaggerated displays, attention-grabbing campaigns and intriguing collaborations," says Lahav.
"It's one of the oldest fashion houses in recent decades to greatly influence the fashion world and inspire young designers. It ranged from Tom Ford who brought sexy design, tight cuts, corsets, shiny fabrics and sexy campaigns to Alessandro Michele who brings a busy, 'messy' style with lots of details and looks "Moves between street style and granny style. As a designer, I'm connected to my base to the era of Tom Ford, who presented feminine and classic minimalism in designs and on the other hand likes to use feather, fringe, sequins details like Alessandro in my work."
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Young designer Ariel Toledano also likes the changes the brand is going through: "This is an unexpected fashion house, challenging itself time and time again, the collaboration with Balenciaga will not be the only one and I believe we will see more later. Gucci is seen today as a fashion house that dictates trends and influences all The world of fashion is aesthetically pleasing. I have never seen another designer like Alessandro with the ability to surprise every season. Each of his shows has a variety of styles, plenty of looks on the runway when one is different from the other In a Gucci store, it is not available in other luxury stores. "
In Israel there is one Gucci store in the franchise.
Two years ago, the official concept store of the Italian super brand Gucci was opened in the State Square by the Enigma company.
The brand's global design team worked on every detail and angle in the two-story complex.
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Store manager Yoni Stebholtz says that the Israeli market loves the brand that has a loyal audience.
According to him, in recent years more and more young people are coming to the store.
"The brand is very connected to social networks and digital," he says.
"They aim the pages at the youth, position themselves as a young brand and have the most followers. We see the result in the field, when a collection is launched around the world young people call me and ask if the item arrived. Older men and women today wear the same Gucci items, do not see In many fashion houses. "
