Get into the groove
Behind Gucci’s enviable retail renaissance is an unusual strategy. JACQUIE ANG studies the 10 moves that could have gone wrong, but culminated in its glorious comeback
#1 TURN A STAGEHAND INTO A STAR
Before he attained A-list status, Alessandro Michele was an accessories designer who first arrived when Gucci was led by Tom Ford. Behind the scenes he worked his way up the ranks to become right-hand man to Ford’s successor Frida Giannini.
His name wasn’t on the shortlist of candidates for her replacement, but his affability and efficiency soon caught the attention of CEO Marco Bizzarri, who took on the risk of appointing an unknown to head the House of Gucci.
“I think he was really brave because, come on, I was basically Mr Nobody who just worked hard at Gucci for many years. I still find it tough to come to terms with; I feel more like a child playing someone else’s role,” Michele confessed to System magazine in 2016.
#2 LET HIM DO WHAT HE WANTS
Bizzarri gave the new-in-charge his full support, endowing him with arguably more power than other creative directors in the industry and giving him free rein to redefine visual codes. Under Michele’s visionary eye is the complete Gucci universe that encompasses ready-to-wear, accessories, eyewear, children’s wear, beauty and fragrance (he released his first fragrance Gucci Bloom in May 2017), jewellery (his first collection Le Marché des Merveilles included a few high jewellery pieces), furniture (his first furniture collection debuted in September 2017 under Gucci Décor) as well as advertising, digital and social media platforms, and even store design.
To reinvent itself, the 97-year-old Gucci, went through a dramatic divorce from Giannini’s high-octane glamour, adopting an idiosyncratic mix of vintage threads sported by genderfluid geeks. The radical about-turn served up a shock that could be easily dismissed as a mere gimmick, but ironically in touch with the currency of the times.
“It was more a case of expressing romanticism or what it meant to be unique in contemporary society, or simply the idea of freedom. And I think the power of my work is that I had the courage to bring this kind of diversity together, and create a dialogue from those juxtapositions,” shared Michele. “My way of working is to put things together and create a kind of chemical reaction. I feel that by taking fragments that are apparently dead and putting them together in new ways, you create something modern and beautiful.”
#3 TAKE HIGH-LEVEL RISKS
Usually, brands that have taken on a new creative direction would conduct makeovers in select stores. But Bizzarri took a leap in the dark, spending billions of euros to push Michele’s new designs into Gucci’s 500 stores within weeks post-show, while revising communications strategy and overhauling the look of the boutiques.
“If you really want to make a blast and change the perception of something, you need to do it super quickly. The longer it takes to alter the position, the longer it takes for the consumer to understand,” he reasoned.
Michele concurred. “From the creative point of view, if you create a collection, you need a box in which to present it, and you need everything in that box to be perfect. Because if you put my dresses and my collection in the wrong space they just won’t work, so I really appreciate Marco pushed to change the stores so quickly, especially Via Montenapoleone.”
#4 COLLABORATE WITH COPYCATS
Guccighost was an obssessed fan whose graffiti art tampered with the brand logo flagrantly. Instead of suing him for copyright infringement, Michele presented him with a new canvas (the Autumn/winter 2016 collection) and “validation for [his] craziness”.
This year, the tables turned on
Michele when he was accused of plagiarising a Dapper Dan design in his Cruise 2018 collection without due credit. Ironically, the tailor was forced to shutter his business 25 years ago because he made outfits with fake designer logos, one of which was Gucci.
In defence, Michele insisted the look was an homage, and even welcomed Dapper Dan into his circle of collaborators. He took their alliance to another level by anointing him one of the faces of Gucci’s Autumn/winter 2017 campaign, before reopening Dapper Dan’s studio atelier in Harlem, where the tailor will create bespoke pieces with Gucci’s fabrics, prints, embroidered patches and hardware. In addition, a Dapper Dan capsule collection is in the pipeline for Autumn/winter 2018.
#5 Indulge In graffiti
After contributing his paint scrawls to Michele’s Autumn/winter 2016 collection, artist Gucci-ghost was let loose to decorate the façade of the brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship store. A year later, Coco Capitan had her turn with the Autumn/winter 2017 collection, tagging two huge walls in New York and Milan with her distinctive handwritten scribbles along the way.
#6 Say no to moneymaking materials
Though luxury fur supplier Saga Furs affirmed that demand remains strong, Gucci decided to join the Fur Free Alliance in October, declaring it would no longer use, promote or publicise animal fur from its Spring/summer 2018 collection onwards. What will happen to the Princetown loafer, one of the house’s bestsellers? Turns out that lambswool has substituted kangaroo fur since the start of 2017.
#7 go mass-tige
Among the new Gucci faves such as GG Marmont bags and Princetown slippers, the humble cotton T-shirt stands out as the one to snag. Retail fashion director of Net-a-porter, Lisa Aiken identified it as “hands-down, the bestseller of the [Spring/summer 2017] season” at the luxury e-tailer. “It’s sold out so quickly, and I mean we put really, really big volumes behind it. We had more than 1,000 units for one style!”
She attributed its desirability to wearability — it can be challenging to don Michele’s maximalist looks head-to-toe, so the T-shirt served as a counterbalance. “It worked for the Gucci customer who wants something dressed-down, but it also worked for someone casual who wants a quick update. It has a very broad appeal.”
Such easy accessibility does not dilute brand exclusivity, however. The complexity of the design with Michele’s over-the-top embellishments or special treatments deters counterfeiters. Gucci is shrinking quantities of its products but elevating them with elaborate ornamentation. “The artisans are enthusiastic, it’s as if they were waiting to show what they can do. The industry is shifting toward this module of smaller groups of products and you need to find those who will be able to produce them quickly and well,” Bizzarri informed Wwd.com. The company is supposedly investing in a new footwear and leather goods factory to support these creative applications.
#8 lose your Supporters
Making such a revolutionary change means you win some, and you can lose some. Gone is the customer who used to shop at Gucci, but in her place is a prized new-gen aficionado who is younger, and brimming with self-confidence and personality to lap up the colourful offerings. She is the one who will take the brand into the future. “Fifty percent of our business come from millenials, from practically zero two years ago, and we are No 1 in brand perception among a younger consumer,” Bizzarri confided in The Straits Times.
How did the duo get the fashion-forward to buy into Gucci again?
“Ultimately, you don’t buy fashion because you need a bag or a suit — everyone already has tons of them — you buy it because you fall in love with something; because you see something and think, ‘Oh my god, I need to have it’, but you don’t need to have it,” he rationalised, observing that people switch brands as easily as they change bags. So they upped the ante on ready-to-wear to build loyalty, while ringing up the millenial dollars.
#9 let customers have their way
Michele has always championed self-expression and individuality, letting artists reinterpret his designs. It didn’t take long before he extended this opportunity to consumers, with the personalisation service Gucci DIY that empowers them as co-designers. When
it opened its boutique in ION Orchard — the first in Singapore to sport the new look — it included customisation corners for handbags and Ace sneakers, and, for a limited period back in November, tailored suits and unisex jackets.
#10 PLAY AT WORK
It’s clear from the crazy mash-ups and imaginative collaborations that Michele is having fun turning the House upside down.
“I am not a designer, but when Michele asked me to give him feedback about his pieces, my favourites are always the pieces that are the most bold, the most different, the most daring,” Bizzarri enthused. “Fashion, just like business, should be about challenging what people think and having fun. And in this era of Gucci, we are definitely having fun.”
This open-minded conspirator further reveals that merrymaking begins within the House, where a new mood permeates. “Alessandro and I, we walk, we smile, we say hello to everybody, we enjoy ourselves. It will take a little time for this new behaviour and mood to take effect, but everybody here at Gucci will eventually mirror it, and the ones that don’t will not find their place in this new culture.”