High Fashion Design

Guccio Gucci (1881-1953) developed a taste for beauty and elegance as a young man while working as a lift attendant in London's opulent Savoy Hotel at the turn of the 19th century. In 1921, after his return to Florence, he opened a shop at 7 Via della Vigna Nuova selling luggage and saddlery, as well as a small workshop that handcrafted them.
In need of expansion, the workshop, which also had begun to produce handbags as well as its original equitation goods, was relocated to a larger space on Lungarno Guicciardini along the Arno River in 1937.
By this time the iconic bit and stirrups, which were derived from the company's origins and denoted the sophistication of the products, had come to represent Gucci's success.

Guccio Gucci was born in 1881, the son of a Florentine craftsman. When still a young boy he moved to Paris and then to London quickly working his way up to the position of Maitre d'Hotel at the Savoy. And there, in one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, Guccio observed and metabolised culture, ideas, style and aesthetical sophistication.
When he went back to Italy in 1920, Guccio opened the first Gucci shop in Florence with a capital of only 30.000 lira. These are the humble beginnings of a trademark that has become a tradition.

Guccio's first success arrived thanks to his leather craftsmanship and his accessories for horseback riders. As a more and more sophisticated clientele patronised the Gucci firm it grew slowly and steadily.
The Gucci's - who came to include Guccio's sons Aldo, Ugo, Vasco and Rodolfo, - opened new shops in Florence, Rome and Milan. in 1953, over their father's strenuous objections, Aldo and Rodolfo opened the first overseas Gucci shop in New York, but it was also the year that Guccio died marking the end of an era for the family firm.
The brothers persevered, however, and those were the years in which the products destined to become "classics" were created: the handbag with the bamboo handle; the mocassin with the distinctive Gucci snaffle-bit; the foulards: the belt clasps; the ties.

The late nineteen sixties marked the explosion of the "Status Symbol" and Gucci, along with fellow Florentine Pucci, was among the first Italian names recognized world-wide. Production increased and the biggest factory yet was opened on the outskirts of Florence. But in the same period clashes within the family resulted in the 1989 nomination of Rodolfo's son Maurizio Gucci to President of the Group.

Gucci decided to concentrate on the revaluation of the original family tradition of beautifully crafted artisan products. On the advice of Dawn Mello, brought in from Bergdorf Goodman, they cut back from 20,000 articles to 5.000 concentrating on the most popular successes: the bag with the bamboo handle, suitcases, shoes, the "Flora" foulard created by Rodolfo Gucci and the artist Accornero for Grace Kelly.

His cousins had already left the company, and in 1993 Maurizio Gucci stepped down and sold his shares to Investcorp, an Arab multinational that today controls 100% of the Gucci Group. Each product is still made with the same love and attention for detail that Guccio Gucci put into his first products. Quality is Gucci's first priority, even if it means sacrificing quantity. The Gucci motto is "Stay small to remain great".

In 1938, the business expanded to Rome with the opening of a shop on the prestigious Via Condotti. Under the limitations of the Fascist dictatorship, imagination compensated for the shortage of raw materials, as Guccio discovered the distinctive potential of hemp, linen, jute and the signature bamboo. The one-man business became a family business when sons Aldo, Vasco, and Ugo joined the company in 1939. Another son, Rodolfo, later joined the company and in 1951, he opened a shop in Milan.

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