Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Gucci Holds Balenciaga, Horses, and Bangers Close to Its Heart

Gucci Holds Balenciaga, Horses, and Bangers Close to Its Heart

In celebration of the Italian house's 100-year anniversary, the brand's Aria collection pulls out all the stops.

It's not every day you turn 100, and in Gucci's case, they're not horsing around. In celebration of its centennial, the brand is rolling out projects throughout the year, and despite it only being April, we've clocked all the headlines: It started with a partnership with The North Face that sold out internationally; Then there was its teased Beloved campaign starring both Harry Styles and Serena Williams; And now, as a highlight, the Italian house released the Aria Collection, and we bear witness to one of the biggest designer partnerships to date: Gucci and Balenciaga.

If you thought that GG North Face puffer was hard to track, we suspect this pairing to break you. We're much more used to high-low collaborations, but this is an altogether different approach. Creative director Alessandro Michele is tapping into the mind of Balenciaga's Demna Gvasalia for the former's "hacking lab," swiping a selection of Balenciaga's familiar codes with the Aria vision. The end result mashes logos, monograms, and silhouettes, and we are reacting accordingly (cue head explosion emoji).



"I wouldn’t like to sentimentalize a biography though. Gucci’s long history can’t be contained within a single inaugural act," Michele stated in the show notes. "As any other existence, its destiny is marked by a long series of “endless births” (M. Zambrano)."
To mark the dawning of Gucci's next century, they presented a fifteen-minute video that opens to a dark street, neon lights illuminating an imaginary Savoy Club. The location isn't an accident-founder and leathermaker Guccio Gucci was a porter at the Savoy Hotel in London, England, where he first became hypnotized by the luxury suitcases checking in. In 1921, he opened his own leather goods shop in Italy. Back to the collection, which takes a sharp turn. Lil Pump's 'Gucci Gang' creeps in, setting the stage for Aria's soundtrack of any song that ever waxed poetic with Gucci-encrusted lyrics. The Gucci-fied playlist features: Rick Ross' 'Gucci Green Suit', Harddope's 'Bugatti', Bhad Baddie's 'Gucci Flip Flops', and Die Antwood 'Gucci Coochie'. Bangers only.

The clothes themselves hold Gucci's heart in its hands, literally and figuratively, with models delicately clutching anatomically correct bedazzled hearts. The aforementioned Balenciaga partnership exposes itself with the GG motif superimposed onto Demna's trademark '80s futurism It works in reverse, with "BALENCIAGA" text appearing on Gucci's iconic Jackie handbag and Michele's deft tailoring. Both logos flash across a crystalline suit.

When it comes to Gucci alone, Michele revisits Gucci's archives, with bronzed horse bits, traditionally adorns its loafers and handbags, displaced and oversized onto fetishized harnesses. The equine theme runs deep, with models wearing caps and jodphurs, lashing the runway with leather riding whips.



Under Michele's reign, Gucci has always been a bit on the nose with whimsical undertones. For Aria, he pared back the seventies oversaturation, with cleaner nods to the classics. It stands as an ode to the brand's rich heritage, but this is not an anthology. "Crossing this threshold, I have plundered the nonconformist rigour of Demna Gvasalia and the sexual tension of Tom Ford," Michele continued, noting Ford's hypersexualized era of Gucci in the '90s. "I have lingered over the anthropological implications of what shines, working on the brightness of fabrics; I have celebrated the equestrian world of Gucci transfiguring it into a fetish cosmogony; I have sublimated Marilyn Monroe’s silhouette and old Hollywood’s glamour; I sabotaged the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie and the codes of men’s tailoring."



The film ends as the models explore a secret garden, illuminated like gods and surrounded by fairytale creatures ranging from pristine peacocks to albino rabbits to white horses (the latter of which seems to be a running trend). Given the ecstatic energy behind this collection and the debut of the most high-profile collaboration (that's not technically a collaboration) to date, maybe it was all a dream.

All the looks from Gucci's Aria Collection


AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
China Presses Netherlands to “properly” Resolve the Nexperia Seizure as Supply Chain Risks Grow
Merz Attacks Migrants, Sparks Uproar, and Refuses to Apologize: “Ask Your Daughters”
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
×