Decided to bump this due to another WSJ article. I was going to start a Harry Styles and Gucci thread, but then realized this article is an interesting counterpoint to the 2020 article.
And I've highlighted an interesting figure in green. @papertiger post #13 in this thread - so very accurate!
Harry Styles Designs for Gucci in Bid for Gen Z Luxury Consumers
The pop star is creating youthful clothing and accessories for the Italian brand—and the mood is pure ’70s rock
By Jacob Gallagher June 20, 2022
MILAN, Italy—Pop titan Harry Styles and Gucci announced a joint clothing collection on Monday, developing their longstanding fashion alliance into a formal partnership.
The 25-look collection, codesigned by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele and Styles and dubbed HA HA HA (a playful reference to the pair’s initials), will hit Gucci stores in October. Encompassing sport coats with meaty lapels, neckerchiefs and glen-plaid topcoats, the clothes have a palpable ’70s look to them, and were introduced inside a Milanese vintage store alongside decades-old pieces.
“We were sharing for a long time images of eccentric men from that era,” Mr. Michele said of the inspiration.
Throughout his solo career, Mr. Styles, the flopsy haired ex-One Direction star, has been a committed Gucci muse, regularly sporting the label’s eclectic designs on stage and in photoshoots. In December 2020, Mr. Styles wore a tiered Gucci dress on the cover of Vogue magazine, cementing the singer as a contemporary style icon, while sending pundits into a tizzy about the gender-contorting outfit.
“No rules,” said Mr. Michele when reflecting on that pot-stirring dress.
The HA HA HA collection will hit Gucci stores in October. PHOTO: SIMON171
Making the collection was “kind of like working at home on a rainy day between two friends, doing something to have fun,” Mr. Michele said during a news conference introducing the collection. The singer, who is touring his new album “Harry’s House,” wasn’t in attendance.
Mr. Michele said they began working on the designs in earnest around a year ago and designed much of it over WhatsApp and at the occasional dinner. Working together, said Mr. Michele, gave the friends an excuse to see each other.
The HA HA HA collection reflects a new chapter in Gucci’s business strategy. During a presentation with investors and analysts earlier this month, Kering, Gucci’s parent company, detailed plans to expand the Italian label’s annual sales to €15 billion from €9.73 billion, largely powered by “the high potential of Young Millennials and Gen Z” consumers.
Under Mr. Michele’s tutelage, Gucci has reeled in younger, wealthier shoppers through rarefied, splashy clothes. This month, a poppy, pattern-drenched collaboration with German sportswear giant Adidas drew block-long lines at Gucci stores.
Mr. Styles, meanwhile, has a rabid fashion-minded fan base that diligently tracks the singer’s outfits through Instagram accounts. “It’s interesting how they are open to learn more about the things that he’s doing, the things that he’s wearing,” said Mr. Michele.
The partnership with Mr. Styles exemplifies Gucci’s millennial catnip approach. Sweaters and T-shirts brandish lyrics from Mr. Styles’s chart-topping songs like “Watermelon Sugar.” Many pieces, such as zip-up boots with a heart on the side and a set of pajamas splayed with a pouty bear pattern, tap into “the idea that fashion is something that makes you feel forever young,” said Mr. Michele.
The intent, said Mr. Michele, was never to do basic concert merchandise like T-shirts and hoodies. “It’s about beautiful pieces,” he said. “I mean, they are not that cheap.” The collection will be priced similarly to Gucci’s current collection, a brand representative said—meaning those PJs are set be more expensive than a ticket to one of Mr. Styles’s shows.
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Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele and pop star Harry Styles at the Met Gala in New York in 2019.
PHOTO: ANGELA WEISS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Makes you wonder what the point of spending 4 years doing a fashion degree is for if it's better to join a boy band to become a fashion designer
Gucci are not making the profits they were, seems they're floundering for ideas.
Perhaps they shouldn't keep raising prices every couple of months to give Gen Z a chance to save-up for things.
