Gucci Cosmos: Redefining Fashion

By transporting visitors into a whole new world, Gucci Cosmos is reshaping and redefining what it means to host a fashion exhibition.

After leaving Gucci Cosmos, it didn’t feel like I’d been at a fashion exhibition, at least not one that I’m familiar with. Utilising technology to present items from their archive, it is modern, aligning with the boom of AI in 2023. It’s an exciting space that anybody can enjoy, both the Gucci enthusiast and the fashion historian. However, the focus on performance leaves a gap for factual context beyond surface-level information and metaphors. Relying on individual interpretation, Gucci leaves it up to the visitor to decipher what each room truly means, but most importantly what is to come.  

With Gucci unveiling their newest immersive exhibition in London the doors are open, beckoning visitors to explore an interactive landscape; showcasing Gucci’s rich history and humble beginnings intertwined with celebrations of their creativity throughout the decades. After the exhibition being held in Shanghai earlier this year, 180 The Strand is now home to the cosmic display within the very city in which it all started. 

Upon entering the exhibition, I was met with a 1:1 replica of The Savoy, the same hotel where the 18-year-old Guccio Gucci worked as a porter. This very hotel housed the first ever electric lift, which took seven minutes to reach the seventh floor. Although we were only in there for about three, the guide explained that it was these seven minutes where Gucci used his time to gain an understanding of human nature and more specifically which fine travel accessories the wealthy guest of The Savoy were drawn to. Once we reached the top, we were left to our own devices, which is a theme throughout this experience, thus with the allocated time slot, we were assured that we could take our time. ‘Every suitcase tells a story’ is what the paragraph started with, printed on the walls leading down to the next room, Portals. Around the room were various fragments of information explaining the room itself as an ‘entrance into the universe of Gucci, taking the form of an installation.’ The room was white in its entirety, even the suitcase diorama centrepieces, with the only splashes of colour being projections shone onto them which animated a story of their usage. The only way out was seemingly through a set of revolving doors, although subtle it seemed to create a sense of a portal; a spiralling motion, not seeing the other side of where you were heading to, adding another layer of immersion.  

Despite being a continuation of the white theme, the next room was extremely contrasting with the sheer amount that was happening simultaneously. What struck me first was the sound, a cascading arpeggio accompanied by the disembodied voice of a woman saying names of locations, dates and times. The roof itself was a mirror which made the room seem bigger while also adding to the busyness of it. Directly below the mirror was a construct which I can only describe as a set of circular conveyors, which I can only imagine was the ‘portal’. The nuances of time were something I could not ignore in this room, the music, a piano suggesting urgency, the sporadic naming of places and times paired with the orbital movement of the conveyors housing relics from the 18th century to present day, across as a conceptual nexus of different times and places, all having one thing in common: Gucci. 

Brown chipboard being the choice for the floors and walls of the next room was a stark contrast from the bleak white used before. Different iterations of the Gucci logo in green and red were planted along the wall, the crescent shape of the room being utilised as a timeline, the chronological nature of it being another trope of the recurring theme of time. Once exiting through another set of revolving doors the atmosphere changed in its entirety, it was dark, with two words imposed in front of you, Zoetrope and Eden, offering little context with what I was seeing. The fashion that words were written across the wall gave you no choice but to follow the path further down; vermillion, cedar, taupe, and blossom meant nothing besides the natural connotations they all shared, leaving me wondering where this was leading, both physically and contextually. The zoetrope was a lot to take in, it was quiet at first, the lights were off, highlighting the projection of a dark stallion. This alone was intimidating, the powerful beast encapsulated in a shroud of smoke began picking up speed and galloping anticlockwise. This image was projected 12 times, as if one for each hour on the clock, in between each image was a piece from the equestrian collection, with one being highlighted at random intervals, paired with the movement of the horse made it feel as if the whole room was revolving around you, mirroring the behaviour of a zoetrope perfectly. Similar to the ‘Portal’ room, words that intertwine with the room’s meaning such as ‘galloping, stirrup’ and ‘trough’ were spoken harshly at a fast pace, alongside the allegro music this only added to the idea that we were spinning around with it, once it reached a crescendo and quietened down I then left, before being directed to ‘Eden’. 

After the display of Zoetrope, I had no clue what to expect for Eden. It was the sound that caught my attention first, a soothing voice accompanied by the familiar sounds of nature, that felt somewhat warm. Pouring water, the buzzing of wings and the chirping birds were all audible with the aforementioned voice saying words that connoted the idea of being outside. There was something ever so peaceful about this area, as the name Eden was starting to make sense, the choice of brilliant white paint, which was on the floor, walls, mirror frames which, as noted by Gucci, allowed for the floral-printed coloured to be ‘enhanced’, ‘highlighting its fragile beauty’. Although the giant insect sculptures were confusing, fitting with the theme in theory, the exhaustion felt out of place. In Gucci’s own words, Eden is a ‘place where all living beings are given the possibility to peacefully coexist’ the large variety of insects may be due to this idea, and the mirrors may be a way of putting us, the viewer, actively inside this ‘Eden’.  

‘There is a Cosmos in you’ almost shone on the dark grey paint. The recognisable voice seemingly accompanied me on the walk, it read out a monologue focused on the premise of the cosmos. The walls themselves acted as subtitles, providing me with context as I made my way on my journey to the next exhibit ’Two’. A dissonant electric guitar could be heard before I could even see the two gargantuan sculptures, a heartbeat could also be heard, beating with authority over the other audible sounds. The two sculptures were lying horizontally with their feet by the entrance of the room, their heads at the far end seemed to lean in toward each other, yet never touch. This room also used projectors, adding colour to the white surface of the sculptures, allowing visitors to experience a visual recount of Gucci’s suits in real time. Displaying Gucci’s exploration of the dynamic symbiosis that fashion has with one’s self, the duality whereby clothing defines the body, and the body defines the clothing. 

Archivio

The cobalt blue theme of the next exhibit, Archivio, was a lot to take in visually, though wasn’t overwhelming for it was one of the few rooms without sound. The concept of Archivo was striking, although its execution steered away from the rest of the exhibition, which was more of a spectacle. Gucci describes Archivio as ‘a fragmented labyrinth’, with its maze not only having one route to the centre, giving the visitor freedom to control your own journey within the experience, adding to the level of immersion. ‘The maze, symbolling the life of the archive, is not a static depository of the past, but a continuous and variable construction of the future’; the idea that this archive was alive was shown via subtle nuances, for example, the inside of the draws which held relics of the past were scarlet red, similar to that of blood, and as you made your way to the centre, a beating heart could also be heard.  

The red seeped into The Cabinet of Wonders which stood solitary at the centre of the maze, being the source of the heartbeat, they described it as ‘an armoire and a trunk that preserves and celebrates the charismatic elements of a Gucci wardrobe suspended in time.’ This seemed to me like a direct reference to the black hole at the centre of every cosmos. The heartbeat was emanating from the construct itself, Gucci explains that the exhibition is suspended in time, further adding to the nuance of a black hole; 700 years pass by in 1 minute inside a black hole, and as I stood watching it slowly revolve, I too became devoid of time. The multifaceted cube seemed to float in the air, rotating ever so slowly. Its presence alone invoked awe, the blood red mirroring the inside of the draws in Archivio. Segments on the cube open and close showing the viewer a brief glimpse of an item from the archive, although each piece came from a lack of context, I was mesmerised by spectacle alone. Each piece was lustrous in nature, a dress made out of mirror fragments, a heart handbag comprised of white coloured pearls and more which danced in the light emitting from inside of the cube. When asked on how Gucci Cosmos stands out compared to other immersive experiences, employee, Florence Guan stated that ‘Most other employees don’t go to the same extent this one goes to, for example, each room having its own purpose and aesthetic that explains Gucci in its own way, but still being able to complement each other.’ Yaz Akyol also said ‘It is our (the employees) role as storytellers to give you an experience that is more than just visual, writing and descriptions. We have been hired to make it more immersive and take you through each room as if it is our first time in doing so, as we know it is yours.’  

The carpet is the main material in the corridor leading to the next room as sound was sucked away. The high contrast between the bright blue in Archivio to the black fabric walls created a sensory vacuum, removing not just audio information but visual too. My first glimpse of ‘Carousel’ was the flashes of dancing light, another use of projections, that revolved around the entire room before disappearing again. The black oval included the second usage of a conveyor belt, showcasing an orbit of mannequins wearing various designs. This served as a syntax of the timeline of Gucci, being the meeting point for pieces previously seen online, in museums, in magazines, worn by celebrities, and in stores. Gucci describes it as ‘a collective red carpet that recounts the work of various creative directors, as well as a timeline of evolution also comprising temporal accords with the past.’ You can see the physical manifestation of a Gucci revolve in front of your very eyes, it was a lot. Seeing silhouettes materialise in real-time before escaping out of view references the passage of time, and perhaps even the cyclic nature of fashion. Illustrations made by an assortment of artists travelled across the glass screen, encasing the carousel, depicting floral scenes, wildlife, and even astral bodies, creating a panoramic landscape reflecting the rich history of what it was surrounding. 

The Final Room: Gucci Ancora

The final room: Gucci Ancora, saturated in the same red which the cube in Archivio was doused, once again featured the heartbeat which is heard throughout the exhibition. This room felt colder, the heartbeat was being delivered with more haste than it was prior, adding a sense of unease in the room. From the colour of the Savoy Hotel elevator to the bold palettes of objects and elements that comprise the brand’s heritage, the room provides resolve ‘tinged with the many reds of Gucci’s history’. The monolith in the centre of the room features Gucci’s current creative director, Sabato De Sarno, visual notes, a mood board of images, and videography, featuring sounds accompanying the imagery. These visuals seem disjointed and fragmented, but this is intentional as De Sarno wants us to make what we perceive our own, ‘An initiation of free expression’, giving us the liberty to be ourselves and create an understanding of what was before us through our own devices, playing with the idea of Stuart Halls reception theory. Ancora is described to represent a heraldic adage that moves time forward, dilating it into a continuous present that is already future, perhaps a literal manifesto of De Sarno, a promise acknowledging the past just as much as the future.