As Gucci turns 100 this year Alessandro Michele decided to celebrate the label’s milestone with a little help from his friend Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia.
The result? Jewels that consisted of branded nose rings, body chains, and even fine jewelry reflective of Michele’s maximalist magpie style.
When interviewed by Vogue UK, Michele noted his deeply sentimental attachment to jewels and it was inevitable that he would turn to create a high jewelry collection for Gucci. “If Gucci is a piece of my soul, then it must have jewelry too,” he said.
“I was inspired by the idea that you were opening the safety deposit box of an old lady and it was full of beautiful things from different eras,” he says.
Michele does not feel any pressure to stay ahead of the times, as some jewelry houses do. “They’re afraid to be similar to something that belongs to the past,” he says. “It’s like they feel guilty, but I don’t. Why can’t we play with things from another era and add color and contrast and unusual gemstones?”
“By mixing the colors, you give life to every single stone,” says Michele. For him, the selection of a stone is about the gut-punching intensity of its color and clarity. “A beautiful tourmaline can be better than an emerald.”
But what’s most important to note about all the jewelry at Gucci regardless of the season is that Alessandro has always created gems that are designed to be worn by men and women alike. “It’s crazy to say that men and women’s jewelry must be different,” says Michele, pointing to the Georgian aristocrats bedecked in diamonds and the Indian maharajahs who descended on Place Vendôme in the early 20th century with caskets of precious gems to be turned into fashionable creations.
The jewelry shown below from Gucci’s FW 2021 collection is certainly a reflection of that.
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Source: Vogue.com/ Vogue UK
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