Sabato De Sarno - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[Creative]

As much as I adore HL, I think fashion in 2024 should be something else…

The Gucci stores are extremely ugly and have been for the last… 15? years.

 

[tricotineacetat]

As much as I adore HL, I think fashion in 2024 should be something else…

The Gucci stores are extremely ugly and have been for the last… 15? years.

It’s a retail concept conceived in the late 90ies (similarly to Jil’s) but when we look at it’s longevity, it holds up a lot better than those of other designers who throw it all out with each change of creative director.

I also think it’s got a lot to do with the kind of aesthetic a designer stands for - Dior Homme, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander or Rick Owens call for spaces with austere simplicity - Sleek material contrasts, industrial finishes, more akin to an art gallery than a boutique. We simply don’t have that many designers left working right now who stand for a no-nonsense urban wardrobe the way these designers did it.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Nothing will ever top the Prada epicenter in NYC and all of the Balenciaga by Ghesquière stores. The austere black and white retail space has become passé. It reached its peak when Hedi did it at Saint Laurent, now it just looks very cookie cutter.

 

[Lola701]

Nothing will ever top the Prada epicenter in NYC and all of the Balenciaga by Ghesquière stores. The austere black and white retail space has become passé. It reached its peak when Hedi did it at Saint Laurent, now it just looks very cookie cutter.

The Balenciaga stores by NG were stunning. I think him and DGF did a fantastic job as they reflected the eclectism of his collections!
Their Rome store was good!

It’s weird, but I don’t have the same expectations from a Fashion store than from a luxury store. Mind you, most of the time they all have the price point but I expect a POV from a fashion brand and a more larger than life experience from « luxury brands ».

I love Dries’s Quai Malaquai stores as they have a lot of personality. The Lanvin stores during the Alber era were fantastic too. I prefer the Tom Ford stores to the Tom Ford for Gucci or for YSL stores.
I used to adore the Opium colored lacquered Stefano era YSL stores. They were perfect, warm but minimal. So inviting.

I’m a minimalist at heart but I think Helmut Lang stores and stores in the 90’s were very specific of that era and worked because of their radicality in the approach to stores design before. After it became the norm and while they were beautiful architectural projects, you sometimes loose the essence of a shop.

I think for Gucci, they needs to think about the essence of Gucci as a luxury brand in order to deliver a message that can be translated in store design.
That’s where Peter Marino is a genius. His Chanel, Vuitton and Dior stores checks all the boxes needed for those supermarkets of luxury. However, when he does Fendi, which is a more eccentric brand, he misses the mark.

It’s weird that Gucci struggles because I think the Bottega Veneta stores and the Alexander McQueen stores were well done, had a sense of luxury and intimacy.

At the same time, the product range at Gucci is so ugly now that no store design can save it.

 

[Olaffo]

It’s weird that Gucci struggles because I think the Bottega Veneta stores and the Alexander McQueen stores were well done, had a sense of luxury and intimacy.

IMHO BV stores were always one of best in terms of store design. Went to their flagship in Zurich and it screams luxury without being turned into “art gallery”. All is well made, infinite and inviting. McQueen stores are also fantastic but it all boils down to the sense of vision and control over brand. SdS can’t design cohesive cruise show let alone dictate strong pov which would be infused into store design all around the world. Another thing is that do we really need stores overhaul every single time new CD arrives? It’s a waste of money and resources. Maximilian collection for Ferragamo would be better off in their old setting not the new half baked ones with 3 different logo used in the same space (London) lol

 

[yslforever]

The Balenciaga stores by NG were stunning. I think him and DGF did a fantastic job as they reflected the eclectism of his collections!
Their Rome store was good!

It’s weird, but I don’t have the same expectations from a Fashion store than from a luxury store. Mind you, most of the time they all have the price point but I expect a POV from a fashion brand and a more larger than life experience from « luxury brands ».

I love Dries’s Quai Malaquai stores as they have a lot of personality. The Lanvin stores during the Alber era were fantastic too. I prefer the Tom Ford stores to the Tom Ford for Gucci or for YSL stores.
I used to adore the Opium colored lacquered Stefano era YSL stores. They were perfect, warm but minimal. So inviting.

I’m a minimalist at heart but I think Helmut Lang stores and stores in the 90’s were very specific of that era and worked because of their radicality in the approach to stores design before. After it became the norm and while they were beautiful architectural projects, you sometimes loose the essence of a shop.

I think for Gucci, they needs to think about the essence of Gucci as a luxury brand in order to deliver a message that can be translated in store design.
That’s where Peter Marino is a genius. His Chanel, Vuitton and Dior stores checks all the boxes needed for those supermarkets of luxury. However, when he does Fendi, which is a more eccentric brand, he misses the mark.

It’s weird that Gucci struggles because I think the Bottega Veneta stores and the Alexander McQueen stores were well done, had a sense of luxury and intimacy.

At the same time, the product range at Gucci is so ugly now that no store design can save it.

Balenciaga by Gonzalez-Foerster were definitely the best in all that decade. But even now I do see some hints of Gonzalez-Foerster in some LV womenswear RTW spaces, not the other spaces; for a while I could swear LV reused some shelves in bare stones and rocks that DGF designed for Balenciaga, at least at their St-Germain-des-Prés locations. I could swear they came directly from Balenciaga.

Just like Lola, the second best is obviously Dries at Quai Malaquais, especially the menswear shop, but not that much the new beauty shop. I just keep noticing more details everytime I go but I am always struck by the fact Dries chose the exact same Rive-Droite-Opium lacquered walls that Yves had at home, in the rue de Tournon shop, and that Stefano chose too.
It's indeed extremely inviting and "cozy" while remaining luxury. Pierre Bergé commissionned the same red-lacquer walls by Meringuet-Carrière for the library of the YSL museum in Marrakech, and the Foundation in Paris will probably have red-lacquer walls too, once the refurbishment by Selldorf and Studio KO starts.

But I disagree with Lola and Olaffo, Kering also has some serious issues with all the latest Saint-Laurent stores, we don't talk about it because SdS is the bigger mess, but honestly the latest flagships on boulevard St-Germain and Champs-Elysees are total failures in my opinion. And if you count Rive droite (the former Colette), and the counterpart in LA, the failures amount in billions of dollars.
Even the smaller Venice (Venezia) store is totally washed out by the newly opened Celine one in the same street, and they had to outbid and expel Loro Piana for that tiny corner.
All those aren't as bad as the Gucci spaces, but they are terrible non-events at best.

 

[Beun]

One of the biggest issues with many of these stores is how cold they look and how harsh the lighting can be. Recently opened YSL and Balenciaga stores in Brussels for instance are all marble slabs and white neon, and quite frankly look more like high end butchers than anything else. I'm partial, but much prefer indeed Dries' Malaquais stores and the new Lemaire flagship. Although they are very different, they warmer lighting, the presence of decoration and the softer hues make them more inviting and pleasant.

 

[NoInvite]

Balenciaga under NG concepts were next level. It went so well with the clothes. And each store had their own touches. Too bad its all washed down now.

But I disagree with Lola and Olaffo, Kering also has some serious issues with all the latest Saint-Laurent stores, we don't talk about it because SdS is the bigger mess, but honestly the latest flagships on boulevard St-Germain and Champs-Elysees are total failures in my opinion. And if you count Rive droite (the former Colette), and the counterpart in LA, the failures amount in billions of dollars.
Even the smaller Venice (Venezia) store is totally washed out by the newly opened Celine one in the same street, and they had to outbid and expel Loro Piana for that tiny corner.

The Saint Germain space is pretty and the Champs Elysees is equally im pressive. I just recently visited the Saint Germain one, the only thing that's not it are the products. They all look so dated and out of place.

BTW this thread should be "Anything but Ancora"

 

[Lola701]

IMHO BV stores were always one of best in terms of store design. Went to their flagship in Zurich and it screams luxury without being turned into “art gallery”. All is well made, infinite and inviting. McQueen stores are also fantastic but it all boils down to the sense of vision and control over brand. SdS can’t design cohesive cruise show let alone dictate strong pov which would be infused into store design all around the world. Another thing is that do we really need stores overhaul every single time new CD arrives? It’s a waste of money and resources. Maximilian collection for Ferragamo would be better off in their old setting not the new half baked ones with 3 different logo used in the same space (London) lol

That’s why I think maybe the role of a CD should evolve.
We look at Chanel which was for a longtime The standard in fashion. Karl had a very limited perimeter of expression and respected the fact that he wasn’t the owner of the brand.

I think Creative directors like Hedi, Nicolas or even Phoebe are great to establish the base of a house. But it’s also great to imagine a world where new CD doesn’t mean cleansing of the previous CD.

Ok, in Hedi’s case, the fact that everywhere he goes, he makes the same thing or an evolution of the same thing makes it difficult to envision his projects on the long run. It’s incomfortable in terms of brand identity to have Celine so close to Saint Laurent but in reality, I think with the current changes, any CD’s work can work in the environment created by Slimane and perfected by Vaccarello.

But I disagree with Lola and Olaffo, Kering also has some serious issues with all the latest Saint-Laurent stores, we don't talk about it because SdS is the bigger mess, but honestly the latest flagships on boulevard St-Germain and Champs-Elysees are total failures in my opinion. And if you count Rive droite (the former Colette), and the counterpart in LA, the failures amount in billions of dollars.
Even the smaller Venice (Venezia) store is totally washed out by the newly opened Celine one in the same street, and they had to outbid and expel Loro Piana for that tiny corner.
All those aren't as bad as the Gucci spaces, but they are terrible non-events at best.

But I’m not such a fan of Saint Laurent stores by Vaccarello but I understand their challenge in a way.
I’m not a big fan of Slimane’s store design. It’s slick, it’s recognizable, it’s efficient and practical but I miss the warm atmosphere or even a spectacular factor from those.

But considering that Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent is build on the ashes of Slimane, I kind of wonder what they could have done…

Moatti Rivière designed fabulous stores for YSL under Pilati.

I think the kind of slick and minimal concept works for minimal brands or worked at a time when brand needed a reset. When Sofield did the YSL stores under Tom Ford, it was that era with Gucci and Dior Homme when everything was very slick, black, laquered and where the idea of modernity triumphed over anything.

I think we are passed that time. It’s about comfort now, that idea of leisure or at least of stores that makes the experience of hanging out in the stores a priority.

I think Sabato should have went with the teams that did Alessandro’s spaces and try to merge his universe to what Sabato did. But unfortunately, those questions are ego-led but not made with the best interest of the brand at heart.

 

[Kimihiro]

Finally people said something about the new Saint Laurent store. I’ve been to a new small store recently with that new Anthony look and it’s not clicking. I’m fine with the stone-clad exterior but that fluorescent lighting washed interior was tragic. Pair that with gray. I miss warm lighting in interiors. It’s more luxe. They could really use the warmness YSL stores had in the 2000s.

I loathe Hedi YSL stores. The lighting. The all glass storefronts. At Celine it’s more nuanced with the furniture and more striking but still not that great.

 

[PDFSD]

Gucci should have had a revisit of there archives to rencounter what where the elements of past original stores and what was added to have a united modern re instalment of these worlds basically, what does it mean for gucci to be a italian brand and its history what is the permanence of the house ideas, materials & shapes ,with feels Gucci without even seeing a G or label insight etc

The family had english obsession with nobility jet set life etc, the bamboo material is so linked to the house the brown and round shapes soft to the touch of bags was even how the family described the gucci of then. there are so many things not to mention leather why no focus on leather in the interiors since they want to be upmarket etc

Als this need to be dissected and reinforced in a new modern way and repeated , but they behave like Zara alway shape shifting to the latest trend.

You can see when brand have a in house architect team versus when they hire a outside firm ...Prada was smart to always update store with big architects and then take that halo & influenced the rest of more local small stores done by internal studio Bacchiochi

Gucci has no links or association to other disciplines at the cutting edge for architecture and arts etc is just a mom and pops shop approach they always face the issue every CD change they don't build for the next 100 years its shows in the product and creative output and quality of each department.

BV could have also benefited from becoming the italian hermes and have a more institutional approach to building the brand (including not having outlets stores) then they went all hip and now its about craft but doing gimmick it's just a messy group.....

YSL is a mess including new concept gives acne contemporary vibes, was more a ego project not about YSL Yves has somany nice houses and ideas could have been taken from there don in new way he is the Coco (Chanel) to his brand so why not start from the founders obsessions.

 

[NoInvite]

YSL is a mess including new concept gives acne contemporary vibes, was more a ego project not about YSL Yves has somany nice houses and ideas could have been taken from there don in new way he is the Coco (Chanel) to his brand so why not start from the founders obsessions.

They are now working with Casper Mueller Kneer whom also does stores for Jil Sander and previously did the set and stores for Celine under Phoebe.

 

[Lola701]

They are now working with Casper Mueller Kneer whom also does stores for Jil Sander and previously did the set and stores for Celine under Phoebe.

I love their sets for the shows and what they did with Phoebe’s Celine but the YSL store…
But tbh, it’s not their fault in a way. The idea of YSL on Les Champs Élysées is so odd.
A gigantic store for a brand that has quite a limited eco-system is a bit weird to me.
I know the suits wants YSL to be a cultural brand like Vuitton and Dior but I do not feel like they are there yet.

And while the name is institutionalized, I don’t think that the brand is.

 

[LadyJunon]

Lots of these stores designs are designed more to appeal to the tastes of the current CD rather than building a long-term brand identity. The main issue is that in the eyes of this current wave of designers, this DH/Helmut/Jil style austerity (brutalism, monochrome, metal fixtures, cool-toned lighting) is consider to be the epitome of "modern good taste".

Kering is the most offensive in this aspect. Despite stating desires to reinforcing longevity and heritage, these cold, brutalist interiors feel at odds with brands historically stand for maximalist opulence (Gucci), romance and sensuality (Saint Laurent) or the touch of a hand (Bottega Veneta). Balenciaga is arguably worse with the "raw architectural" style that can only work in the context of Demna's Balenciaga. His successor will most likely have to redo the stores, unless they're planning of being Demna's version of Frida.

The only brands that I see doing this brutalist style well, outside of the megabrands, where boutiques are more or less designed like miniature upscale departement stores, are Celine and Courreges. Celine often uses warmer tones, like gold, tan and brown, which help offset the hard angles of the furniture, while Courreges does this "seamless white" look that gives the appearance of an utopian spaceship.

 

[lowfive1715]

William Sofield, to me, did the most beautiful boutique designs during the Gucci Group era. My favorite was the YSL boutiques. The stunning art deco light fixtures mixed among the black walls and floors. It was so intimidating at the time.

 

[brandon J pierre]

The problem with current state of Gucci is Michele himself. He is the one Who cheapened the brand. It's funny how fashion pack praised him for being "great" but indeed he turned Gucci from elegant and glamorous heritage brand to a cheaper copy of LV by Pharrell. Let's be clear, Gucci sales skyrocketed thanks to few items, no one bought the ready to wear stuff. Gucci success was: fur slippers from 2015 to 2018, Marmont bag, tacky logo belt, but most importantly those super cheap and tacky monogrammed hoodies and sweat pants. Remember Jeffree Star in 2018? That was basically Gucci customer. You really think Gucci customers were interested in Cosmogonie or twins collections? Please, you are delusional.
There is no way to perform a brand elevation in such short time span. They Should have milked the Michele astethetic instead of going 180.
Gucci is now a cheapened version of LV for bad Boys and their hookers with questionable boobie job.

Oh for sure he did a lot of great things and it could be fabulous but a lot of vulgarity of logos and of the new rich. But the new guy is at fault too, he doesn't have any charisma. Gucci is in a very bad place all around also that new store layout is horrendous. there going to need a designer with a sleek fresh point of view with a dash of History. Gucci history not Napoleon or Greek gods roaches and bugs. Jeffree Star 🤢 fur slipper 🤮 and his best collection was the twins collection it was amazing. But they need a lot of new brand imaging and it can't be Tom Ford because well they have their own problems going on over there 😕 😭 I always say when a designer is fired in that way there should be a studio team for a year or two to figure things out just like when John galliano left dior did a studio team it's like a pallet cleansing. Chanel needs a studio team right now Tom Ford needs a studio team right now. Let the team come together and build the brand up and build up a image that a new person can step in and either wipe away or build on.

 

[PDFSD]

They are now working with Casper Mueller Kneer whom also does stores for Jil Sander and previously did the set and stores for Celine under Phoebe.

Yes Casper Mueller Kneer is more for Jil and Phoebe style approach more nordic euro Yves had a different approach to interiors that was more warm and eclectic, even Hedi try to bring the art deco and african art inside the concept at Saint Laurent in the mix of his own black and white obsessions of interiors with the saint laurent marble etc these details help to build and reinforce a brand and have permanence ingrained in the story telling on every touch points of the brands interaction with the customer.

Like it or not Peter for Chanel and even Dior does this well always bringing out colors or material or details that are part of the founders obsessions and codes of the house.

When you step inside a store that should embody the band, the interior should give details that lead to the founder (for HC houses like YSL even if they don't do haute couture any more ), even if i am not a big fan of Balenciaga by Demna i like the idea of restoring the salon back to how it was its step in having some codes reflected in a space as well not just clothes & acc and campaigns.

There is no creative discipline, this idea of reinvention by sub par or ego driven creative directors that instead of doing their own brand want to piss on the carpet of the previous founder in order to leave a stain on its history.

The result is this disconnection in product, stores and no story, only trend and hype & cycles of wiping it clean and away when the hype don't drive sales any more to replace it with another new hype maker that's even worse often than the previous one.

 

[Xone]

The new Gucci eyewear campaign (with Liya, Abbey Lee, George Barnett and He Cong) is shoot by Mario Sorrenti and styled by Suzanne Koller so maybe this will be the new team...hopefully Koller will style Gucci (again) for the ss25 show....

 

[grimm]

The new Gucci eyewear campaign (with Liya, Abbey Lee, George Barnett and He Cong) is shoot by Mario Sorrenti and styled by Suzanne Koller so maybe this will be the new team...hopefully Koller will style Gucci (again) for the ss25 show....

New team, same underwhelming result. Also the same none concept as the David Sims campaign… at this point the fault can only lie with ancora SabaGO and his artistic director Ricardo.

 

[Xone]

New team, same underwhelming result. Also the same none concept as the David Sims campaign… at this point the fault can only lie with ancora SabaGO and his artistic director Ricardo.

Yes, you are right....hopefully Koller will make something interesting...

The problem with those campaigns is that they are empty...and for Sorenti and Koller must be easy money. Being minimal doesn't mean emptiness ancora guy haha

This time Riccardo is not mentioned, only ancora guy as artistic director...