History
Founded in Florence in 1921, Gucci began when Guccio Gucci opened his first shop on Via della Vigna Nuova, drawing partly on his earlier experience at London’s Savoy hotel. The House introduced the Bamboo bag in 1947 and opened its first New York store in 1953, the same year associated with the launch of the Horsebit loafer. Tom Ford became Gucci’s first Creative Director in 1994, beginning one of the brand’s most influential modern periods. Gucci joined what is now Kering in 1999. Later creative leadership included Frida Giannini, Alessandro Michele, Sabato De Sarno, and, from 2025, Demna as Artistic Director.
Creative identity
Italian craftsmanship filtered through glamour, provocation, and reinvention. Gucci’s visual language draws on equestrian codes, 1970s sensuality, bourgeois polish, eccentric styling, and highly recognizable house symbols including the Horsebit, Bamboo, Flora, GG monogram, and green-red-green Web. Across radically different creative eras, the brand has remained defined by its ability to remix its own archive with contemporary culture.
