Guccification: Redefining Luxury Through Art—The Gucci Revolution

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Gucci, a successful luxury company that has managed to renew its brand and revolutionize its business model by employing artification strategies based on contamination. Guccification is a term first used by the company itself to its intent to make all its clothes and accessories express a Gucci style. Today, after the launch of this complex, visionary strategy, Guccification represents a successful marriage of fashion, art, and ethical issues driven by new leadership under chief executive officer (CEO) Marco Bizzarri and creative director Alessandro Michele. The chapter explores how Gucci is evolving into an art-oriented company due to the revolutionary vision of its creative leadership. Indeed, the brand is being transformed from a simple fashion company into a cultural icon. Accordingly, its commitment to artification can be analyzed from three different perspectives: art within fashion, an artistic business vision, and a culture of purpose. This chapter examines how the Gucci brand has been able to redefine luxury by bringing together art and fashion, leading a new, emerging movement.