Gucci Unveils State-of-the-art Retailer on New Bond Road

LONDON — It’s the month of change for Gucci, out and in. 

The Italian luxurious model has opened the doorways to its new boutique on London’s New Bond Road, changing its former location on the nook of Previous Bond Road.

The shop takes its lead from the Gucci Salon as a celebration of the home’s craftsmanship and involvement in artwork. 

The shop is double the area of the earlier one, taking over 15,000 sq. toes with 5 flooring inside a Grade-II listed constructing that was based in 1913 as an artwork gallery. The constructing is preserved by Historic England, a public physique of the British authorities, with solely minor restorations allowed to happen with permission for portray, changing doorways and home windows, and changing the roof.

The area is owned by Trophaeum Asset Administration. Trophaeum bought the positioning in 2020 from a agency managed by the banker Joseph Safra.

The previous gallery area now shows Gucci’s choices of purses, wonderful jewellery, ladies’s ready-to-wear and footwear set towards the backdrop of white columns and darkish wood chevron flooring.

A curved staircase results in the decrease ground, the place males’s ready-to-wear, watches and small leather-based items are positioned, whereas a mezzanine has been specifically put in for the Gucci Valigeria journey assortment, which replicates a classic railway prepare.

The Tudor Room is devoted to Gucci’s previous with a choice of suitcases and duffel luggage from the model’s archive in Florence spanning from the Thirties to the ‘80s.

All eyes have been on the Gucci duffel this summer season as Italian tennis participant Jannik Sinner made an entrance on the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, stepping onto middle courtroom with a inexperienced and crimson net stripe bag along with his initials J.S. marked towards the place the straps join on brown leather-based. It was the primary time a luxurious bag made a cameo look on the well-known inexperienced grass courtroom.

That is Gucci’s first European Salon with a particular area on the highest ground reserved for VIPs and top-tier purchasers by appointment solely. The room will change with every appointment as it is going to be tweaked to suit the tastes of the shopper coming in.

The New Bond Road vacation spot additionally has made-to-measure and made-to-order service accessible.

The shop isn’t solely neighbors with different luxurious vogue manufacturers, but in addition London’s most interesting galleries from Richard Inexperienced and Halcyon Gallery to Sotheby’s all inside a stone’s throw away.

Inside, the shop will home paintings from Liliana Moro, Franco Mazzucchelli, Alighiero Boetti, Matilde Cassani, Jonny Niesche, Massimo Uberti, Joshua Woolford, Simon Callery and Tim Etchells.

The works have been chosen by artwork guide Truls Blaasmo to have a good time Italian artistry, in addition to artwork varieties comparable to geometry, major colours, sculptures and text-based artwork.

Lucio Fontana crimson “1967,” paintings shall be placed on show throughout Frieze Week within the Salon room in October.

Extra paintings shall be launched later within the 12 months because the model pushes to show the shop not solely right into a purchasing vacation spot however a dwelling area that tells the story of Gucci in a museum-like method.

The shop shall be following LEED tips by implementing eco-friendly vitality effectivity.

In April, Gucci debuted its first Salon in L.A. with a slew of fresh-off-the-red-carpet robes.

There are 9 Salon ideas which can be each everlasting and short-term opening in New York, Paris, Milan, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo, every with its personal curation of product and artwork.

Gucci’s give attention to the wealthiest customers is a part of its turnaround technique after gross sales fell 14 p.c within the final three months of 2022, dragged down by COVID-19 lockdowns in China and a declining need for its vogue within the U.S.

The Italian luxurious model is in a transition interval, having parted methods with its longtime inventive director Alessandro Michele in November 2022. His successor Sabato De Sarno, beforehand a designer at Valentino, will debut his first ladies’s assortment on Sept. 22 throughout Milan Vogue Week. That can kick off a brand new part for the model, which is being additional revamped by a serious administration reshuffle revealed in July.

The C-suite change will see longtime president and chief government officer Marco Bizzarri exit the model after the spring 2024 present in Milan. Kering Group managing director Jean-François Palus is succeeding Bizzarri advert interim. François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, mentioned in July the group will start the seek for a everlasting Gucci CEO in September or October, and is open to candidates from exterior the luxurious sector.

Sources in Milan proceed to invest Francesca Bellettini will ultimately be appointed to helm Gucci, though the president and CEO of Yves Saint Laurent was named Kering deputy CEO, accountable for model improvement, and can stay accountable for the French label, in line with Pinault. 

The Italian luxurious model is also seeing Alessio Vannetti return as its new government vp, chief model officer, efficient Monday.

Vannetti, who was Gucci’s worldwide communications director from 2015 to 2019, has spent the final three and a half years at Valentino as its chief model officer.

Again at Gucci, he takes over duties from Susan Chokachi, who’s leaving the corporate after 25 years of service, most just lately as government vp, chief model and shopper officer.

Vannetti will lead Gucci’s model and shopper engagement staff and oversee “the corporate’s strategic model and picture path, advertising and marketing, communications, metaverse and shopper engagement efforts,” the style home mentioned in a press release.