For the Cruise 2025 show at London’s home of modern art, the House explored its historic connection to the city. In 1897, the House’s founder Guccio Gucci headed to London, finding work as a porter at The Savoy hotel. Energized by the city’s vibrant spirit, he returned to Florence to open a travel goods store, with the aspiration to narrate, through his luggage, a new way of living. More than a century later, the notion of London as a place of cultural convergence still holds true, as do its parallels with the House’s constant process of self-discovery, forever calling on archival elements that anchor its heritage-inspired narrative.
Inspired by multiple journeys to London over time, Creative Director Sabato De Sarno sought to capture the city’s essence at Tate Modern – a place where art, design, and fashion intertwine. Connected, both in heritage and spirit, London and Tate Modern became the ideal settings to showcase Sabato De Sarno’s vision for the Cruise 2025 show.
Discover more about Gucci’s founding story and its connection with London in a special episode of the Gucci Podcast featuring writer Charlie Porter.
For the Gucci Cruise 2025 fashion show in London, the House is collaborating with not-for-profit Grow to Know by contributing a tapestry of around 10,000 plants from the runway set-up at the Tate Modern to the organization. The greenery will be used for projects around the city including ‘Life Under the Westway’, cultivated by Grow to Know, aimed at transforming Maxilla Gardens into a community garden that tells local stories of the past and present. The initiative is also supported by the Royal Horticultural Society and Life Under the Westway: Maxilla Gardens will open the first RHS Community Chelsea garden this May in association with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The collaboration is part of the House’s efforts towards the sustainable management of collection presentations, digital events, and advertising campaigns through the ISO 20121 certification, which all Gucci’s physical shows have obtained since September 2019, under which reusing and extending the life of sets is a best practice. Additionally, through the Gucci Changemakers Volunteering program, employees will have the opportunity to actively contribute to community projects supported by Grow to Know, which is committed to cultivating community, creative and cultural nature access, and action.
“To explore a creative direction is to bring yourself into an already-existing space and show it through your eyes, working from room to room with the goal of reshaping the building again. We choose London for the Cruise show, knowing that was the right choice. I owe a lot to this city, it has welcomed and listened to me. The same is true for Gucci, whose founder was inspired by his experience there. The House’s return is driven by a desire to be immersed in its distinctive essence, its creative driving force with its limitless capability to put together contrasts, make them converse, and find ways to coexist. Today we are here to celebrate that spirit. Tate Modern is the perfect cross-section to narrate the city’s essence, with its great Turbine Hall that welcomes and gathers everyone, and with the Tanks, generators of ideas.” Sabato De Sarno
