From porter to powerhouse: Traversing 102 years of history at Gucci Cosmos exhibition

SHANGHAI – The Gucci story began in the late 1800s, in The Savoy Hotel in London.

A young Italian man by the name of Guccio Gucci had arrived at this ritzy hotel – not as a guest, but to work as a porter.

Although The Savoy was the first hotel in London to get an electric lift, it was manually controlled and extremely slow, taking seven minutes to travel from the ground floor to the uppermost levels.

Tasked with helping guests with their luggage, Gucci took the travelling time to study each and every bag belonging to the Savoy’s wealthy British clientele. Inspired by what he saw, he returned to his home town of Florence in 1921 to start his own artisanal luggage atelier.

It is hardly surprising then that visitors to the Gucci Cosmos exhibition in Shanghai – which opened with great fanfare on April 28 – are greeted with the sight of luggage.

Plain or logo-embossed, massive or tiny, they glide soundlessly on circular carousels in Portals, the first of the exhibition’s eight immersive sections.

Conceptualised and designed by renowned British contemporary artist Es Devlin and curated by Italian fashion theorist and critic Maria Luisa Frisa, Gucci Cosmos is the Italian luxury house’s new exhibition which traverses its 102-year history.

This exhibition is housed in the sprawling West Bund Art Center, a former aircraft manufacturing facility in the up-and-coming arts and museum district of the West Bund.

Gucci president and chief executive Marco Bizzarri, Chinese singer-actor Lu Han and a number of journalists and influencers attended the cocktail reception, which drew about 700 guests from around the region.

Stepping inside the exhibition feels like entering a parallel universe where the brand’s past, present and future collide in a vivid explosion of multicoloured florals and GG logos.

Each section showcases many previously unseen items, tracing the evolution of Gucci from its founding principles to the creativity and innovation of its former creative directors Tom Ford, Frida Giannini and Alessandro Michele.

Devlin says the exhibition took a year to conceive, given its scale.

“We can make beautiful rooms, we have an extraordinary creative technology team who can exhibit beautifully, so the execution isn’t so much the challenge. The challenge is how to do a story like this justice, how to find a common denominator between my ability to tell a true story and all the stories that have been told within a house for a hundred years,” she says.

With some research and the help of audio, visual and kinetic technology, however, Devlin was able to put together a buzz-worthy exhibition that transports visitors on a metaphorical journey.

The result is a visual spectacle, complete with a giant “zoetrope”, a pair of imposing statues and a rotating cabinet filled with curios, all accompanied by a flurry of light-and-sound projections.

Meanwhile, Ms Frisa has filled the rooms with a treasure trove of objects from the Gucci Archive, which is housed in the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni in Florence and serves as a repository and working hub for the house’s creative teams.

Standouts include a suitcase from the 1930s – one of the oldest items at the exhibition – a silk scarf made for Princess Grace of Monaco, and a rare and vibrant interpretation of the Guccio Gucci-designed Bamboo bag, crafted from hemp in the 1960s.

Gucci’s story would not be complete without the inclusion of seminal pieces like the original Bamboo bag. The house’s founder created the It bag in 1947, using bamboo to craft its handles when the price of leather rose dramatically after World War II.

There is also a pair of men’s Horsebit loafers from 1953. Created by the founder’s son Aldo Gucci, it replaced the lace-up shoes that men traditionally wore and became one of the first examples of casual luxury, earning a spot in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s costume collection in the mid-1980s.

It is not every day that Gucci opens its archives to the public, says Devlin.

“It is difficult for people to access a fashion archive, because the archive is the heart of every fashion brand, and also it is one of the most precious places,” she says.

“There is a phrase that comes from within the Gucci house which is about an archive, and it says: ‘An archive is not a dead, cold, clinical indexed mausoleum. It’s a living organism.’”

The exhibition fittingly culminates inside the Duomo, a massive replica of the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. One of the city’s most enduring sights, the cathedral took 140 years to build and was considered an architectural masterpiece when it was completed in 1436.

“The only reason that such a magnificent cathedral could be built was because each generation of architects handed their ideas, their blueprints, their creativity, their architecture, their technology, their engineering to the next generation,” explains Devlin.

She likens it to Gucci’s story.

“The myth of the house is kept alive, not just through the creative directors, the designers, the ambassadors, but also in the hands of each individual craftsperson who stitches the embroidery, who cuts out the pieces of fabric. It’s a grand collaboration over generations,” she says. “And I hope that’s the story that the exhibition tells.”

Gucci Cosmos is open to the public at the West Bund Art Center in Shanghai until June 25. Entry is free, register on WeChat. The exhibition will then tour the world.

Inside the Gucci universe

With more than 50 looks and 170 accessories in eight immersive sections, Gucci Cosmos is a sprawling exhibition. Here is what to expect in each section.

1. Portals

Visitors enter through revolving doors, which are meant to be reminiscent of The Savoy Hotel’s entrance. Portals pays tribute to founder Guccio Gucci’s humble beginnings, with moving carousels showcasing some of Gucci’s most distinctive luggage. This includes one of the earliest signature suitcases, designed by him in the late 1920s, as well as a US$8,300 (S$11,000) monogrammed guitar case designed by former creative director Michele.

Look closely and you will spot brass engravings of a porter in uniform on Gucci’s luggage dating back to the 1930s, a nod to the founder’s occupational origins. This motif was eventually replaced by a knight in armour holding suitcases in the 1950s.

2. Zoetrope

Invented for entertainment purposes before the advent of cinema, a zoetrope produces the illusion of moving images. Gucci reimagines this animation device by creating a circular space in which moving images of a galloping horse are interspersed with playful archival pieces like a riding crop designed by Ford.

The brand has long drawn inspiration from the equestrian world. This can be seen in the house’s most recognisable symbols, such as the Horsebit – a decorative piece of metal hardware that resembles a bit used on a horse’s mouth to control it – as well as the green-red-green stripe, which is inspired by the strap that holds a horse’s saddle in place.

3. Eden

In 1966, the founder’s son Rodolfo Gucci was acting for Italian film studio Cinecitta when he met Italian artist Vittorio Accornero de Testa and commissioned from him an illustration for a silk scarf for Princess Grace of Monaco. Depicting various life forms, the resulting print, called Flora, has been brought to life in this all-white room.

Walk among larger-than-life renditions of the flowers and insects featured in Accornero’s design and watch how the print has been reinterpreted through the years, from a 1969 silk minidress to a series of silk scarves and fabric bags.

4. Two

Here, visitors are greeted with two imposing 10m-tall white statues that stand guard at the entrance to the second part of the exhibition, like protectors of an ancient temple.

These statues symbolise Gucci’s pioneering belief in gender-neutral fashion. A loop of images showcasing men’s and women’s suits from Gucci’s past and present are projected onto the statues’ “blank canvases”, including Ford’s genderless red velvet suit that was designed in 1996 and Michele’s 2016 floral versions.

5. Archivio

Step into a series of maze-like corridors reminiscent of the Gucci Archive in Florence and discover the secrets lingering within its cabinets and drawers.

The handbag, a quintessential symbol of Gucci, takes centre stage in this universe. Watch it evolve, from the late 1940s to the present day, becoming more than just an object, but rather a subject that is called Jackie or Diana, or christened with the name of the material used, such as Bamboo.

Slide open a few drawers to discover reproductions of illustrations by Accornero, artisans’ sketchbooks and technical drawings, and vintage advertising campaigns.

6. Cabinet of Wonders

A set of silver deer-shaped beakers from the early 1970s? An electric guitar designed by Ford?

In this sixth room, visitors encounter these unusual objects in a mesmerising cube-like structure, replete with drawers and compartments that mechanically slide in and out to reveal their contents.

Apart from the curios, there is an eclectic range of garments and accessories, like a black leather bustier from Ford’s 2001 collection, a golden evening gown from Giannini’s 2006 collection and a punk-inspired spherical leather bag with metal spikes designed by Michele in 2019.

7. Carousel

Designed to look like a perpetual runway, Carousel features 32 mannequins clad in Gucci clothing from the 1970s to the present day, including a swishy Giannini-designed flapper dress and sleek unisex suits by Ford.

Rather than organising the looks chronologically, the exhibition’s curator Maria Luisa Frisa has arranged them by colour and inspiration, highlighting the interplay between heritage and modernity.

As the looks rotate around the conveyor belt, visitors are also treated to the sight of drawings by selected Chinese artists – a creative nod to the host country.

8. Duomo

In the final section, visitors can access two large-scale reproductions of the 15th-century dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the iconic cathedral that looms over Guccio’s home town of Florence, via a suspended viewing platform.

Inside, a light-and-sound experience awaits, as designs and motifs from Gucci’s past and present are projected onto the dome’s walls. Visitors also have a bird’s-eye view of Gucci Cosmos from here, making it a fitting finale to an exhibition that honours the house’s values.

Sartorial picks

Here are some unique archival pieces at the exhibition.

Printed hemp and brown leather luggage; closures in golden metal (late 1950s)

Ivory bag in precious leather; horsebit and chain in golden metal (Fall/Winter 2003)

Light blue leather bag with embroidered floral applique, blue-red-blue web and chain closure (Cruise 2017)

Bamboo bag in printed hemp and brown brindle leather; natural bamboo handle and closure (1960s)

Hairband in metal, black grosgrain, black cotton and Swarovski crystals (Pre-fall 2016)

Silk scarf with multicolour “Safari” print (1980s)

Beige suede and green-red-green web loafers; horsebit in golden metal (1970s)

Leather Zebra fur pumps (2016)