Gucci Vault – digital concept store opening. Review by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE.
Milan can’t stop surprise us. It is safe to say that Milan became the center of fashion, the place to be, where everything is happening, where new concepts and ideas are launching, where fashion takes its routs today. Simple Milan today is a TRENDSETTER. For the last 2 years Paris gave away its Fashion banner to Milan due to accepting very emerging designers to show in official calendar, even the ones who don’t even have an atelier, a web-site or even email, proposing to write them letters by post if we need them. And at the same time all big luxury brands were ignored, and left without any interest by the ones who were suppose to take fashion industry to set.
Another event it is not possible to miss during Milan Fashion Week was an opening of Gucci Vault – digital concept store. The concept was not really clear, as the Gucci Vault is actually a physical place, where all Gucci archives were presented, add here group of emerging designers invited to show (not creative director of Gucci Alessandro Michele), and the launch of a web-site, some sort of magazine online. This Gucci Vault is a some sort of a hybrid of the concepts taken from Moncler Genius, who invite very creative (not that emerging) designers to create in the frame of the brand in different styles, and Bottega Veneta interactive concept magazine online.
Strangely enough this season creative director of Gucci Alessandro Michele didn’t present any collection at all. Apparently the winds are changing for this designer who brought to the streets ugly pseudo-intellectual fashion style, inspired by 70s, and so beloved by “Bobo” (see definition of Bobo HERE). You can see clearly that he was not very happy about these changes.
The opening evening Alessandro Michele looked very blue, and not something old or new, he looked mostly as something borrowed. Wedding associating aside (4 good-luck objects for bride), everything looked like very very borrowed – the concept of digital store, the concept of inviting the emerging designers to participate in Gucci collections, and concept of online magazine.
“We called it vault because a vault is a storage place, for beautiful things,” said Alessandro Michele about this new retail Gucci venture.
But let’s read the Gucci Vault press-release:
“The new experimental online space, created by Gucci from the vision of Creative Director Alessandro Michele. The name evokes an air of magic, denoting the presence of precious objects that represent a love for beauty, dreams, passion, the search for ideas that go beyond the confines of time and space; a testament to the belief that past, present and future can co-exist through the power of the imagination.
Vault is many different things at once:
A time machine, an archive, a library, a laboratory, and a meeting place. It is in a state of continuous evolution, reflecting the Creative Director’s passion for experimentation, showcasing restored and customized archive pieces alongside the creations of emerging designers through a poetic and coherent editorial format.
These items will be released at regular intervals throughout the year in limited quantities, ensuring an ever-exclusive offering. As Vault evolves, it will encompass many different forms of collaboration, including a selection of items from other brands dear to Alessandro Michele, resulting in an offering that goes increasingly beyond the traditional.
Diverse narratives take shape, at times drawing from the past, at times discoursing with the future, and always rooted firmly in the contemporary. It has a voice that reverberates in all directions, fostering an inspiring dialogue with those who enter it, forging an imaginative relationship that goes beyond the purely transactional.
Unveiling a special exhibit dedicated to the world of Vault during Milano Fashion Week. The new online concept store represents a love for beauty, dreams, passion, the search for ideas that go beyond the confines of time and space; a testament to the belief that past, present and future can co-exist through the power of the imagination.
Speaking to the belief that past, present and future can co-exist through the power of the imagination, Gucci Vault pairs rare, vintage Gucci items with the creations of emerging talents.”
Yep…. that’s all about it….
