Luxury fashion houses have long won consumers' respect for pushing the limits of imagination and creativity, but none quite like Gucci.
During the course of its 100-year reign, the Italian brand has remained ahead of the curve, effortlessly moving the needle when it comes to innovation and evolving pop culture.
From naming its most popular bag designs after A-list fans – Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana, to name but a few – to creative director Alessandro Michele’s championing of gender fluidity (think Jared Leto and Harry Styles dressed in pussy-bow silk blouses and floor-length gowns), it's safe to say Gucci isn't one to rest on its GG logo-printed laurels. Where Gucci leads, fashion fans follow.
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And it would appear the company's latest venture to celebrate its 100th birthday is no exception to the Gucci rule.
This week the fashion house marked its centennial with Gucci Circolo Shoreditch – a brand new pop-up dedicated to multisensory experiences splat bang in the heart of east London.
Taking over the former home of Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye OBE, the pop-up’s exterior is hard to miss given its covered in the brand's trademark ‘G’ logo print, illuminated window frames and 'Gucci' sign.
But the real fun happens behind closed doors.
Inside sartorial fans will discover a customised chameleonic space featuring dark wood-panelled wall, printed in Gucci’s glade print wallpaper and decorated with plush soft furnishings and velvet curtains.
They'll also be able to shop the brand’s Gucci 100 and Aria collections – we spotted ‘Gucci Horsebit 1955’ and ‘Jackie 1961’ – and the brand's Hacker Project with Balenciaga from November.
Downstairs visitors will be invited to listen music inside the dedicated Listening Lounge picked by friends of the brand, including Billie Eilis, Phoebe Bridgers and Leto, and check out its super boujee bespoke bookstore filled with books dedicated to the world of art, fashion, photography and, of course, the brand itself.
If that wasn’t enough (can you ever have too much Gucci?) atop a winding, narrow staircase sits the Gucci café, serving everything from lattes to americanos, and a space for agile workers in desperate need of a sartorial haven decorated with fauna and Gucci-printed pillows.
The pop-up follows the launch of the Gucci Vault - an online platform selling incredibly rare items from the brand's 100-year archive, as well as celebrating the generation of designers, like Bianca Saunders, and Gui Rosa - in September.
'In my mind, I always had the idea to create a place in constant evolution where "impossible" conversations between objects from different origins, creators, and eras could take place,' Michele said following the Vault's launch.
'I said to myself: "Why can’t a fashion house with a creative director also have a space for expressive, aesthetic, and social contaminations?"'
We couldn't agree more.
Gucci Circolo Shoreditch is open now until the end of the year. Find out more here.
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
