Gucci’s new London store is a refined haven for art lovers

So the old adage goes: out with the old, in with the new. Such is the case for Gucci, which this week swaps its traditional Old Bond Street address – long the Italian house’s Mayfair outpost – for New Bond Street, transforming a Grade II-listed former art gallery into an elegant haven primed for the brand’s latest chapter. 

Later this month in Milan, Sabato De Sarno – an Italian designer formerly of Valentino – will present his first collection as Gucci’s creative director. Though the new boutique is not designed by De Sarno, its restrained grandeur – parquet wood floors, restored classical columns, mouldings and marble fireplaces – suggests a move away from the glittering maximalism of former creative director Alessandro Michele, who left the house in November 2022. 

Inside Gucci New Bond Street

Watch our film for a glimpse of the new store’s interiors, as seen at an event hosted by Gucci and Wallpaper* to celebrate its opening. The event featured a panel talk chaired by Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, whereby Gucci's general manager for Northern Europe Phillippa Florentin-Lee, curator Truls Blaasmo and antiques specialist Frank Partridge discussed the evolution of the unique project, which has taken two years.

In part, the elegant space recalls a traditional Parisian salon, the house noting a desire to let the ‘exceptional craftmanship’ of its clothing and accessories do the talking. Currently housing the vivid, archive-inspired A/W 2023 collection – designed by an in-house team and shown during Milan Fashion Week A/W 2023 this February – a line of mannequins stretch along the ground floor to display the colourful runway collection, while accessories are encased in elegant glass and metal vitrines. In keeping with the feeling of elevation, Gucci promises precious leathers, as well as accessories studded with crystals or diamonds and hardware in 18ct gold.

On the upper mezzanine floor, the house’s historic links with travel – Guccio Gucci famously began his eponymous brand after a stint at the Savoy Hotel in London, where he noticed a growing desire for travel cases and trunks – are nodded to in a room that evokes a historic railway carriage. Fittingly, it houses Gucci’s Valigeria travel collection, comprising suitcases, travel bags and cases for accessories and toiletries, here displayed on wooden shelving engraved with lion’s heads, a motif that has featured in Gucci’s previous collections.  

Another space is titled ‘The Tudor Room’, named for its wood-panelled walls – each one carefully restored by the house – and featuring pieces from the Gucci archive in Florence, spanning the 1930s to the 1980s. The ‘Gucci Salon’, meanwhile, is the first such space in Europe, an invite-only service that recalls traditional couture salons, whereby clients can shop in a private room the house says will be specially curated for each visitor. It draws inspiration from ‘Gucci Galleria’, 1977-founded space above Gucci’s store in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles (‘perhaps the most luxurious place to shop in the entire world’, as it was slated at the time) which was accessed via a crystal-and-bronze elevator and opened with a special leather key. 

The store also recalls its roots as a gallery – first opened in 1913, it was formerly home to art dealer Colnaghi – with a selection of artworks dotted throughout the store. For its opening, art advisor and curator Truls Blaasmo has selected a number of pieces to decorate the space, with a particular thematic focus on Italian artists, particularly those whose works include geometric motifs, primary colours, and textural elements. These include works by Liliana Moro, Franco Mazzucchelli, Alighiero Boetti, Matilde Cassani, Jonny Niesche, Massimo Uberti, Joshua Woolford, Simon Callery and Tim Etchells (Blaasmo expresses a desire to ‘facilitate a dialogue between young talent and established artists’).

New works will be added across the year, for what Gucci says is its desire for an ‘ever-evolving’ space, reflecting the turnover of a contemporary art gallery. As such, a 1967 work by Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana – taken from ‘Concetto Spaziale’, a famed series of monochrome artworks that are slashed on their surface – will go on display in the Gucci Salon during Frieze Week in October.

Gucci, 144-146 New Bond Street, London.

gucci.com