Beyond Fashion to Culture: GUCCI Rewrites the Contours of Luxury Part 4
This special feature follows the items, the designers, and traces the origins and reconstruction of the brand.
However, there is another axis that cannot be overlooked when discussing the true value of GUCCI: its connection to culture.
GUCCI has always seen fashion as more than just clothing; it has functioned within culture as a weapon of expression, a political stance, and a means of visualizing identity.
In this Part 4, we will explore how Gucci has transcended the very definition of "luxury" through its relationship with gender, celebrity, music, and minority culture.
1｜Gucci as a gender disruptor
In particular, the Alessandro Michele era (2015–2022) was a time when GUCCI became a “place for deconstructing” the concept of gender.
Male models wore lace shirts and blouses, while female models wore men's suits. The shows were often unisex, demonstrating the idea that "gender presentation is subordinate to style."
"What Gucci showed was a reframing of terms like femininity and masculinity."
In 2019, Michele also took the lead in launching the genderless perfume "Mémoire d'une Odeur (Scent of Memory)," taking on the challenge of breaking down gender barriers even when it comes to scent.
In this way, GUCCI has evolved beyond the traditional framework of luxury as a status symbol to become a device that poses questions.
2 | Celebrities and Gucci: A Complicity Beyond Advertising
GUCCI is not "clothes worn by celebrities," but rather "luxury that redefines the brand together with celebrities."
During Michele's time, he particularly struck a chord with figures who disrupted existing gender and style, including Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, and Jared Leto.
These people are not simply "spokespeople" but participate in the campaign as collaborators, muses, and ideological accomplices.
In particular, the 2022 Gucci HA HA HA collection, a collaboration between Harry Styles and Michele, was an iconic attempt to showcase the intersection of masculinity and fantasy.
"GUCCI doesn't choose perfect people, it chooses people who can speak."
— Dazed Digital
3 | Music and Gucci: From Hip Hop to Neo-Classical
In the history of the intersection of luxury brands and street culture, the relationship between GUCCI and hip hop is particularly noteworthy.
In the 80s and 90s, rappers began wearing GG-patterned belts and jackets as a symbol of success, and the brand name began to appear repeatedly in songs. This was the moment when the word "GUCCI" began to function not just as a fashion term, but as a lifestyle term.
Artists like Gucci Mane, Kanye West, and A$AP Rocky have continued to use Gucci as a bridge between fashion and music.
During Michele's time, a new generation of musicians (such as Lil Nas X and Rosalía) appeared in GUCCI shows again, and GUCCI has now become known as a "brand to listen to."
"GUCCI is a rhythmic symbol where fashion and music intersect."
— BoF
4 | Minority Representation and Gucci: The Politics of Luxury
In recent years, GUCCI has been proactively highlighting diversity in race, body type, age, sexual orientation, and more in its advertising, runway shows, and campaigns.
Knowing the risk of sometimes stirring up controversy, the brand has continued to choose "beauty worth talking about" rather than "safe beauty."
The 2018 "Electro Man" campaign featured a model wearing prosthetics, demonstrating the diversity of physicality.
Responding to the BLM and LGBTQ+ movements since 2020, GUCCI has established a stance that "beauty = criticism of the power structure."
Summary | The current state of the myth that is GUCCI
The brand began in 1921 as a small leather workshop in Florence.
Now, he is redefining the very word "luxury."
It began with saddlery made by Guccio Gucci, expanded to the global market by Aldo, and reinvented by Tom Ford as a brand of desire.
Michele elevates the work to a poetic and ambiguous dream, while Sabato de Sarno returns to stillness and contours.
And in the meantime, Jackie continues to tell stories, Dionysus tells myths, and Horsebit connects memories.
Celebrities became accomplices, music provided rhythm, and gender was constantly being questioned.
GUCCI is not a "series of designs" but a "series of questions."
Therefore, no matter how much it is interpreted and reconstructed, GUCCI remains GUCCI.
And now we are again faced with that question.
We're waiting to hear what GUCCI has to say next.
