GUCCI
It's the name. Its.. the Italian luxury. It's the ultimate luxurious fashion house. It's the name that is known worldwide, sold and worn worldwide. It's the biggest name in the world. If you asked anyone to name a fashion brand, I'm sure Gucci would the first, if not second, brand to be named. And I'm here to tell you the story of how Gucci started, why it is so incredibly famous and why every woman wants to own a Gucci bag. And.. what it really means to wear Gucci. Gucci products are more than just a status symbol or a symbol of wealth. When you wear Gucci, you are wearing a part of history. You can, figuratively speaking of course, be whoever you want to be. Just as with every designer. Gucci is special. It's products are beautiful. GUCCI.
Like always, I'll start with the history. Wikipedia will know talk. Please give him your undivided attention.
The House of Gucci
better known simply as
Gucci is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR. Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921.
Gucci generated circa € 4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 according to BusinessWeek magazine and climbed to 41st position in the magazine's annual 2009 "Top Global 100 Brands" chart created by Interbrand. Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand.Gucci operates about 278 directly operated stores worldwide (as of September 2009) and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores.
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| 1973 Gucci bag |
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| 1921 GUCCI Artisans |
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| 1921 GUCCI Collection Bags |
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| 1921 |
From modest beginnings at the end of the 19th century, the Gucci
company became one of the world’s most successful manufacturers of high-end leather goods, clothing, and other fashion products. As an immigrant in Paris and then London, working in exclusive hotels, young Guccio Gucci (Yes, that is actually his name!)(1881–1953) was impressed with the luxurious luggage he saw sophisticated guests bring with them. Upon returning to his birthplace of Florence, a city distinguished for high-quality materials and skilled artisans, he established a shop in 1920 that sold fine leather goods with classic styling. Although Gucci organized his workrooms for industrial methods of production, he maintained traditional aspects of fabrication. Initially Gucci employed skilled workers in basic Florentine leather crafts, attentive to finishing. With expansion, machine stitching was a production method that supported construction.
Together with three of his sons, Aldo Gucci (1905–1990), Vasco Gucci (1907–1975), and Rodolfo Gucci (1912–1983), Gucci expanded the company to include stores in Milan and Rome as well as additional shops in Florence. Gucci’s stores featured such finely crafted leather accessories as handbags, shoes, and his iconic ornamented loafer as well as silks and knitwear in a signature pattern. The Gucci loafer is the only shoe in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The company made handbags of cotton canvas rather than leather during World War II as a result of material shortages. The canvas, however, was distinguished by a signature double-G symbol combined with prominent red and green bands. (Beautiful!) I think everyone in the world knows it..
After the war, the Gucci crest, which showed a shield and armored knight surrounded by a ribbon inscribed with the family name, became synonymous with the city of Florence.
Aldo and Rodolfo Gucci further expanded the company’s horizons in 1953 by establishing offices in New York City. Film stars and jet-set travelers to Italy during the 1950s and 1960s brought their glamour to Florence, turning Gucci’s merchandise into international status symbols. Movie stars posed in Gucci’s clothing, accessories, and footwear for lifestyle magazines around the world, contributing to the company’s growing reputation.
Gucci’s distinctive lines made its products among the most frequently copied in the world in the early 2000s. Pigskin, calf, and imported exotic animal skins were subjected to various methods of
fabrication. Waterproof canvas and satin were used for evening bags. Bamboo was first used to make handbag handles by a process of heating and molding in 1947, and purses made with a shoulder strap and snaffle-bit decoration were introduced in 1960. In 1964 Gucci’s lush butterfly pattern was custom-created for silk foulards, followed by equally luxuriant floral patterns. The original Gucci loafer was updated by a distinctive snaffle-bit ornament in 1966, while the “Rolls-Royce” luggage set was introduced in 1970. Watches, jewelry, ties, and eyewear were then added to the company’s product lines. A particularly iconic touch, introduced in 1964, was the use of the double-G logo for belt buckles and other accessory decorations.
The company prospered through the 1970s, but the 1980s were marked by internal family disputes that brought Gucci to the brink of disaster. Rodolfo’s son Maurizio took over the company’s direction after his father’s death in 1983, and dismissed his uncle Aldo—who eventually served a prison term for tax evasion. Maurizio proved to be an unsuccessful president; he was compelled to sell the family-owned company to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based company, in 1988. Maurizio disposed of his remaining stock in 1993. Tragically, Maurizio was murdered in Milan in 1995, and his former wife, Patrizia Reggiani, was convicted of hiring his killers. Meanwhile, the new investors promoted the American-educated Domenico De Sole from the position of family attorney to president of Gucci America in 1994 and chief executive in 1995.
The company had previously brought in Dawn Mello in 1989 as editor and ready-to-wear designer in order to reestablish its reputation. Well aware of Gucci’s tarnished image and the value of its name brand, Mello hired Tom Ford in 1990 to design a ready-to-wear line. He was promoted to the position of creative director in 1994. Before Mello returned to her post as president of the American retailer Bergdorf Goodman, she initiated the return of Gucci’s headquarters from the business center of Milan to Florence, where its craft traditions were rooted. There she and Ford reduced the number of Gucci products from twenty thousand to a more reasonable five thousand.
Tom Ford (favorite!) came to the foundering company with vision and style. Having the strong support of Dominico De Sole, Ford wished to maintain a sense of the company’s history while updating Gucci’s trademarks. In 1994 Ford became responsible for creative direction, and by 1996 he directed all aspects of the company—including ready-to-wear clothing, visual merchandising, packaging, interior design, and advertising. Ford and De Sole struggled to restore the former reputation of Gucci, while redirecting the growing brand to a new level for the market of the late 1990s.
There were seventy-six Gucci stores around the world in 1997, along with numerous licensing agreements. Ford was instrumental in the process of decision-making with De Sole when the Gucci Group acquired Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Sergio Rossi, and, in part-ownership with Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga. By 2001 Ford and De Sole shared the responsibility for major business decisions, while Ford concurrently directed design at Yves Saint Laurent as well as at Gucci.
(Now you see how powerful Gucci really is. And Tom Ford!)
The French conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redouté, however, gained ownership of 60 percent of the Gucci Group’s stock in 2003. Women’s Wear Daily then announced the departure of both Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford from the Gucci Group when their contracts expired in April 2004. The last spring collection under the direction of Ford and De Sole was a critical and commercial success. Amid widespread speculation in the fashion press about Ford’s heir, the company announced in March 2004 that he would be replaced by a team of younger designers promoted from the ranks of the company’s staff. In 2005, Frida Giannini was appointed as the creative director for women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, previously joining Gucci in 2002. In 2006, she also became the creative director for men's ready-to-wear and the entire Gucci label. I don't know too much about her, but I like her. She is the one who hold the reigns to the GUCCI empire. Lucky girl.
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| Just friends...? |
Corporate
A turnaround of the company devised in the late 1980s made Gucci a global contender and notable fashion label. In October 1995 Gucci went public and had its first initial public offering on the AMEX and NYSE for $22 per share. November 1997 also proved to be a successful year as Gucci acquired a watch licensee, Severin-Montres, and renamed it Gucci Timepieces. The firm was named "European Company of the Year 1998" by the European Business Press Federation for its economic and financial performance, strategic vision as well as management quality. Gucci world offices and headquarters are in Florence, Milan, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Japan, and New York. PPR headquarters are in Paris. And yes, they own everything.
Now it's time for the fun part! Which should I cover first? Let's start with the leather ware first. It is what Gucci is most know for.
Okay, we get the point. Gucci bags are beautiful. My favorite? The Gucci wallets and messenger bags. If someone gave me $1,000 to spend on anything, I would buy a Gucci messenger bag.
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| These sunglasses are so ugly. Sorry Gucci! |
Moving on. To the sunglasses!
The sunglasses are nice. Very safe.
Now to the heels!
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| These are my favorite pair of Gucci shoes. I will own these one day. |
Gucci shoes are boring. Are they not? Maybe they aren't boring. They're just not exciting. They're also not very fashionable. They're lucky they have the name and the iconic double G logo.
GUCCI 2011 COLLECTION!!!!
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| I LOVE the entire first row. The second row is still nice. |
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| What a beautiful outfit! Katy Perry looks great. The purple, gold, red, green and blue all go perfectly together. My favorite is the gold belt. It completes the look. Katy Perry looks very sexy. Is Gucci sexy? We always knew Gucci was Guilty. | | | |
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As you can see, the 2011 collections (Summer/Spring and Fall/Winter are so colorful, fun, and exciting!! I was so thrilled when I saw it for the first time. It's magnificent. The colors, the materials, the looks- they are all beautiful. I Iove the two-toned short dresses, the open cut tops, the long pants, the brown, black, grey, teal, blue, orange and green. The colors look great.
The hair and makeup look great! The tightly held back hair and the bright red lipstick looks very good together. The whole look is amazing.
I love the entire collection. It is so artistically crafted and it looks really, really good. It's sexy but smart.
THE ADVERTISEMENTS
I have to say that Gucci has done a really good job recently with their advertisements and marketing.
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| Jennifer Lopez's GUCCI advertisement with her kids! |
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The ads are great! We can thank Tom Ford for them.
GUCCI
