GUCCI COSMIOS
From October 1st to December 1st, an exhibition is being held at the Kyocera Museum of Art in Kyoto City to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the arrival in Japan of the world-famous fashion brand “Gucci”.
Next year will mark 60 years since the birth of GUCCI in Florence and Kyoto became sister cities. Hence, this exhibition pays homage to Japan and Kyoto and expresses the history of the brand’s innovation and tradition of creativity through GUCCI’s archive works.
In particular, it celebrates the long-standing relationship between Kyoto and Florence and highlights both cities’ rich cultural and artistic values.
The exhibition space is divided into six rooms, each of which focuses on a different theme and highlights the past, present, and future of GUCCI, a brand with a 100-year history.
From here, I would like to introduce the exhibition rooms, starting with the theme of the first room.
TIME MAZE
In this exhibition room, you can experience the codes and legacy of Gucci by seeing the various masterpieces that adorned the next generation, such as clothes, bags, shoes, accessories, and luggage, stored at Gucci in Florence, arranged in concentric circles according to the year, like a labyrinth.
ZOETROPE (The World of Horseback Riding)
The second exhibition room is named after the Greek words “zoe” (life) and “tropos” (turn), and the theme is the world of horse riding culture, which is inseparable from a luxurious lifestyle. Alongside an installation of sequential photographs capturing the elegant movements of horses, Gucci’s traditional design items are on display.
ECHOES (The Genealogy of Creativity)
A collection of looks from the creative directors of the past are gathered together in one place, creating a glamorous space that feels like you’ve wandered into a party venue.
LEISURE LEGACY (Celebration of Lifestyle)
Here, alongside traditional Japanese paintings related to leisure and the outdoors from the collection of the Kyocera Museum of Art in Kyoto, sports equipment and leisure goods that have colored various scenes of GUCCI’s lifestyle are on display, allowing you to enjoy a collaboration that can only be held at an art museum.
BAMBOO
In this exhibition room, the true icon of Gucci, Gucci Bamboo, is featured, and the transformation from its birth in 1947 to the present day is expressed in an impressive display, as well as allowing you to see items that are the result of collaborations between Gucci Bamboo and traditional Japanese crafts and contemporary art.
RED THREADS (Gucci Bonds)
The final space is a space colored in red that symbolizes GUCCI, called Gucci Rosso Ancora, and items and elements that highlight the theme of this exhibition, which is to evoke imagination from the archives, are on display.
Through this exhibition, I was able to witness the world of innovation and creativity of this brand that boasts a 120-year history, and I was able to learn in-depth about the craftsmanship that has been passed down over the years and the power of its solid branding.