And then Gucci said: Revolution!
Youngsters under 35 years old (i.e. Millennials) seem like an untouchable market, but not for Gucci. In 2017, 60% of sales are due to their engagement, while, in 2013, they were not even in the battle plans.
Everything started in 2015, when Gucci chose an unknown designer as a Creative Director left free by Frida Giannini, and for the CEO role, Marco Bizzarri (55) was already established since December. Both of them were promising lots. They would revolutionise the fashion world through one simple rule: no rules. They came across as empty words and it seemed like no one would be able to bring the brand as high on the market as Tom Ford once did. However, even now, four years after, the popularity of the brand is rising, and the strategy is as revolutionary as it is simple.
When Bizzarri entered the Gucci offices, all of the black and white pictures were taken down. Why, you may ask? The new strategy will be referring to the future, creativity, good vibes and emotion, without the pressure of the prestigious past of the company. Without any doubt, he’s a visionary. His belief is that fashion should be seen apart from its superficiality and, as any other art, it is not fully rational, but conveys emotions.
If we look at their targeted market, it’s almost impossible to understand how a brand which, apparently, didn’t have any chance, made it to the first spot in the world. In a period of time when multiple companies are testing and failing, Gucci is going directly to the source. That’s how one can explain the team of employers under 35 years old, framed either for discussing the same topics from the executive meetings, either new ideas. That’s how simple it was. Rumour has it that Bizzarri himself is frequently receiving three propositions of changes in the company. All without interfering with Alessandro Michele’s (46) creative process.
His unconventional way of thinking made him pick Alessandro as a creative director, even if he wasn’t even present on the list of the potential masterminds. Word is he was targeted for being fired from his chair as head of Accessories Design department, when, after a four-hours-long dialogue, Marco Bizzarri realised that he had in front of him the perfect man for the new image of the brand. He admits now that it was an assumed risk. He was an unknown designer, appointed at a brand closer to bankruptcy than to success, but he was revolutionary, mysterious and eclectic. He believed in Michele enough to give him the total creative control. Might be because he built a collection in only 5 days after Frida Giannini’s unexpected leave? Even if time was short, the new identity of the brand was perfectly presented during the runway. The new Gucci brings tribute to intellectual and revolutionary youngsters: courageous, without any rules, androgynous - both womenswear and menswear are presented during the same catwalk -, with attitude, thinkers, inspired by the past, unique.
Michele describes his creations as being fake vintage, a combination between couture and street style, mixing gemotreic lines with flowers and loving the logo. He’s inspired by his own childhood, remembering his mom, who was working in Roman cinematography and through whom he was meeting eclectic people, and his dad, a lover of art and nature, a simple man. His vision is based on inclusion and diversity, and the models, either from the catwalk or advertising campaigns, are not fitted in the society-accepted-box. Not how you look, but “how you think matters”, says Michele.
The Kering CEO, François-Henri Pinault, comments that the duo feels entirely the identity of the brand. That’s why their success is so easy to understand: to succeed in combining perfectly art with business it’s an… art.
At the present time, they are building the new philosophy of Gucci, based on sustainability, a topic fashion runs into more and more often. That’s why his creations are not that distinct from one season to another, but only the concept is new. The garments proposed by Michele will be trendy even 3 seasons from now. Seems incredible, right?
One might say that the key to success, now, are the experiences - and he might as well be right. The customers want storytelling, as the immense, yellow wall, in Miami, in collaboration with the artist Coco Capitán, who was discovered by Michele on Instagram, as many other collaborators of the brand and whose writing is strongly associated with Gucci nowadays. Other experiences in online offered by the brand to its clients are #GucciGram, GucciGhost, Gucci Places, Gucci Equilibrium, Gucci Animoji and many others. They renovated the Gucci Museum, now called Gucci Garden, in Florence, Italy, which now includes not only a restaurant, but also an exclusive store and a bookshop. The chef holds 3 Michelin stars, highlighting the importance of the brand and, moreover, of the mix between haute cuisine and haute couture.
For some, it seems like they will never stop, but many are wondering for how long this frenzy will last. Giorgio Armani is naming it a circus. Many analists are commenting that the ones who are contradicting the duo are just jealous it was not them before Michele and Bizzarri.
