Why Is Gucci's Success So Hard To Replicate?

In the past two years, there has been no need to emphasize the outstanding performance. In the past, we have analyzed the reasons for the success of Gucci from various aspects of Commerce and culture, and have also tried to explore why consumers have not yet rebuilt the new Italy.

Aesthetic fatigue.

In fact, in addition to active investment in marketing strategy and digitalization, the driving force behind the revival of Gucci lies in the aesthetic system constructed by Alessandro Michele, which is still a favorite phenomenon among consumers, reflecting the general anxiety of contemporary society and the retrospect of romanticism.

And Gucci grasps not only

The pient trend of the industry is more of a pulse of the times.

Today, we share an article analyzing Gucci from the perspective of art and culture, which may answer why Gucci's success is so difficult to replicate.

Almost three years ago, when the current Gucci creative director, Alessandro Michele, was "on the brink of danger", she took the nearly completed Gucci 2015 autumn winter men's clothing series from the outgoing Frida Giannini, and temporarily pformed it into a "pitional" season that blurred the gender boundary. Not many people were optimistic about the "unaware of the designer" and the future of Italy's luxury brand.

According to the world clothing shoes and hat net, nowadays, under the leadership of Alessandro Michele, the appearance and sales of Gucci have undergone a subversive 360 degree pition. Almost indisputably, it has become the most popular and popular brand.

In particular, the first two days Gucci just released the "no photographer" 2018 spring summer series of advertising blockbuster. Once again, the social network launched a new round of praise for this fashionable and fashionable fashion brand.

Correspondingly, it is also a startling growth rate of its sales.

According to fashion headlines in December 22nd, Gucci sales increased 49.4% to 1 billion 550 million euros in the third quarter of this year.

In the first half of the year, the sales growth rate reached 43.4%, reaching 2 billion 832 million euros.

Two sales exceeded Hermes.

The picture is creative director Alessandro Michele.

Over the past three years, news of Gucci sales has grown accustomed.

But in such an economy is not very prosperous, luxury brands sharpen their heads in the era of generating income. The development of Gucci is like a maglev train, which has pulled down the "Hermes" of XX in the sentence pattern.

Although sales can not represent all, at least it can be explained that people like Gucci and are willing to pay for products that do not even need to be discounted.

Many people believe that the "Gucci effect" formed by the comprehensive pformation of Alessandro Michele is just a flash in the face of clever marketing.

Indeed, Gucci's success in reshaping its brand image and marketing in recent years has been impressive.

I have also deceived the idea that the designer who didn't ask the source and the Gucci he led was just playing a more beautiful and sophisticated way than the "brand".

But now, time and signs show that we are all wrong.

In any era, there is only one reason why a fashion brand can get such a great love in the market: it has seized the pulse of the times.

It was a common sense, but it turned out to be unusual.

The picture shows Gucci 2018 spring summer advertising blockbuster.

In order to get rid of the cloud and trace the source, I have re read the seventh issue of System magazine in early 2016, in-depth interviews with Alessandro Michele and Gucci brand CEO Marco Bizzarri.

Sure enough, I found the first "evidence" to be sought.

In the first part, in January 20, 2016, System interviewed Alessandro Michele at Gucci headquarters in Milan.

"I think that since the late 1990s, the whole fashion industry has become more and more product oriented, and creativity has almost disappeared.

It is the consumers who first feel this. They have clearly realized that everything is just a marketing method.

I have always called myself a happy slave in the fashion industry, but even I, at that time, felt that I had had enough, because fashion was too unbelievable.

How can a person who is so disgusted with naked marketing methods peddle fashions only rely on "strategy" to change and complete the reshaping of Gucci? My understanding is that what we see is the result of events rather than their starting points and essence.

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The myth that Gucci wants to break through the half sky again is still the phrase that has seized the pulse of the times.

There should be another sentence that follows closely. It catches the hearts of consumers.

"...

All we do is reflect the changes that are taking place in the society, and the response of consumers is pretty good.

Sometimes it is strange that fashion does not always have the courage to show changes that are happening outside of fashion. "

Alessandro Michele said quite predictably.

In memory, Gucci's first "exploding money" is Dionysus "Dionysus bag", because we heard the story of Bacchus outside our culture. It came from ancient Greece and continued to Rome. The ancient Greek Dionysus Dionysus is Baku's Bacchus of Romans.

Mentioning this package is not only because it is a landmark of the new Gucci, but more importantly, the metaphorical connotation embodied in its naming represents the philosophical concept and basis behind the aesthetic system created by Alessandro Michele.

If you have heard of some cliche of the legend of Dionysus, at least one impression will be left: the spirit of freedom and hedonism represented by Dionysus are far from the truth of the brilliant and immortal reason and Classicism in ancient Greek civilization. In fact, in the later commentaries, Dionysus is no longer an ordinary pagan god. He is even regarded as the representative of "a kind of aesthetics" and the foundation of romanticism under the craving of human instincts.

Nietzsche even wrote a book about the birth of tragedy.

He regarded Bacchus as a symbol of artistic power and formed the opposite of two yuan with the light and reason represented by Apollo Apollo.

Alessandro Michele has said more than once that his purpose is not nostalgia or retro. He is just showing romanticism and explaining "the present".

And this bag is the best proof of its mentality and ambition.

In addition, the Dionysian package also reveals to us the core secret of Gucci's success: Alessandro Michele is concerned not only with the brand value added to Gucci itself, but also by a large number of cultural added values.

Of course, every brand knows the value of cultural added value, otherwise there will not be so many different names in the market.

From the cooperation with artists, stars and even tide brands, there is no attempt to increase the cultural value added.

So the question is, why is Gucci the most popular in the long run?

The reason is very simple. For Alessandro Michele, adding such cultural added value is not a one-off marketing strategy, or a "rush flow" like killing the goose that lays eggs, but only taking its own aesthetic system again and again.

People in the fashion industry often criticised Gucci and other brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Dior and Chanel, which remained the same in every quarter's design.

Unfortunately, these brands still sell well.

Of course, the strength of brand value added is on the one hand, but what we need to pay attention to is why in the past a long period of time, why did fashion evolve into "invariable" and a set of marketing means?

If you look through the history of fashion, you will probably find that the existence of fashion has only lasted more than 100 years, and its development is deeply related to the changes of the times.

"Modernity" contributed to the birth of fashion in the real sense.

But modernity is also a double-edged sword. How liberated it is and how closed it is.

Many people should remember that after Alessandro Michele took office, Gucci held an exhibition called "No Longer/Not Yet" in Shanghai. The exhibition put forward a question -- "what is the contemporary era?"

In order to better explain the understanding of this issue, Alessandro Michele came to Shanghai specially. In a media conversation at that time, Alessandro Michele talked about his understanding of "modern" and "contemporary".

"I don't think this is because I am nostalgic, but I feel that if you want to be a contemporary person, you should keep a little distance between certain things and time.

"Modern" is not a word I like, because it was invented by artists and designers before.

"Modern" means that you are telling a completely different story from beginning to end, which is a little different from the meaning of "contemporary".

"Contemporary" means that things have been developing and changing, and they are not fixed.

It is impossible for you to define the beginning and end of "contemporary".

It's like a river. It can't stop. "

Perhaps few people voluntarily explore the difference between modern and contemporary Alessandro Michele, and how this understanding has affected his design.

But it seems to me that this seemingly unrealistic problem of concern is precisely the port of all, the root of the flood.

Attention: modern is a western concept, of course, many concepts are created from the Western perspective.

But I think Oriental people are essentially closer to the idea than the West.

In the plation order of the book "Enlightenment Era (upper) - modern heresy" (Peter Gay, 1966), there is such an interpretation: "in the standard narrative of Western history textbooks, the enlightenment is described as an important stage in the modernization process of the western world."

The enlightenment emphasizes "reason". Such reason includes both the ancient Greek tradition and the progress of science. It also involves the "paganism" from the Far East - Confucianism.

But the enlightenment not only affects the emergence of modernity, but also brings about another profound consequence -- the romanticism revolution.

Just like what the Enlightenment has given to the contemporaries, the influence of modernity is almost the same.

However, such a trend of thought was a powerful impact at that time, but for us in the post modern environment, it was as subtle as air.

Therefore, in this age which can also be called the crisis of faith, our urgent desire for Romanticism is essentially the same as that of the romanticism revolution. If there is any difference, it is probably a more recessive existence.

The picture shows Gucci 2017 autumn winter advertising blockbuster.

It is also interesting that Romanticism includes the "Baroque" and "Rococo" styles which focus on over decoration, and there is a certain "restoration" in contemporary fashion.

Just like several brands mentioned in the previous article, the proportion of "decorative" techniques used in design is quite considerable in their "invariable" quarterly series.

But we can not blame any designer for that.

It is because we live in a generally known era of post-modernism. Unless there is a genius who can break the constraints of the times, the "Modernity" thinking that wants to recreate a new style or shape is almost impossible to achieve.

"Fashion reflects what is happening right now. In the past few years, the development of the fashion industry has been mediocre.

But now something is changing, and it may never return to the past.

It's hard to say what exactly is innovation.

Alessandro Michele also generically concluded.

In the book "the romantic revolution, the humanistic movement to create the modern world" written by British historian Timothy C. W. Blanning, it explains the inevitable link between the occurrence of the romanticism revolution and the Enlightenment: "although the light of enlightenment is bright, it does not give people warmth, though it dispel darkness, but it can not penetrate the hearts of people."

The author also mentioned Rousseau's prophecy.

In his early most important article on the moral influence of science and art, the sharp eyed pioneer of the age of enlightenment boldly judged the present and the future: "people's expectations are wrong. The end of civilization is not liberation, but slavery. Civilization uses" flowers to cover up our chains "and" how much progress has been made in art and science, and our minds have been degraded. "

The author then concluded: "Rousseau predicts that people will eventually be completely alienated from the modern world, so that they will pray for God to return to their former ignorance, innocence and barren state, leaving them only something that is enjoyable and worth treasuring."

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From the text, sensitive people seem to be able to smell a similarity with today's atmosphere.

This strange and familiar sense of universal crisis has even made people's backs cool.

Is it not a true portrayal of today's human society without all the background? Modernization has broadened our horizons, but closed our souls, making people gradually become barren and fragile in the air of lost faith, and can only get a moment's relief in the material domain and superficial entertainment. Isn't that a terrible thing?

Of course, art can also give comfort to people. That's what romantic people did in those days.

As we have said before, Alessandro Michele is a self contained aesthetic system.

This aesthetic system, in my view, is best described as "Duo Bao Ge", in English as cabinet of curiosities or Wunderkammer, and also plated as "rare house".

DUBAO Pavilion is popular between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. It is known that it is the predecessor of the museum.

Westerners put different kinds of artifacts from different regions and time together and create a fantastic world with magical colors and exotic customs.

In the design series of Alessandro Michele, we also see a variety of postmodern combinations from different time and space.

Some mysterious animal designs with some metaphors, representative symbols of rock and roll costumes, Oriental flavor elements, street style, and the most important Italy handicraft heritage.

These seemingly irrelevant parts are organically combined in the minds of the designers, forming an inclusive and complex aesthetic system.

And the periphery of this aesthetic system has far exceeded the branding category of human intervention. It is more like a revolution in cultural phenomenon, that is, whether our consumption behavior can be radiated by this artificial brand aesthetic system.

That's why Gucci can "dig deeper" in the next season's series, and why it's hard to imitate.

Among them, the repeated appearance of animal images with various connotations, such as coral snakes, bees, tigers and other elements, have virtually woven a set of Gucci totems, and circled their tribal tribes with an invisible link. They have successfully established a series of systematic secrets between brands and buyers, and this kind of secret words also exist among the uninformed consumers.

Of course, this is not the first creation of Gucci, and the same method applies to all kinds of "tide cards".

Tide cards, with the help of the contemporary street culture or pop effect, have the same purpose.

If fetishism is a postmodern religion, logo is a comforting variation totem.

But the problem with tide cards is that although it can make people feel that they belong, they still can't warm people's hearts.

On the contrary, it can be achieved by the artistic force of romanticism.

Lastly, it is related to Alessandro Michele himself.

In the interview with System, CEO Marco Bizzarri commented on this partner: "the reason why I chose Alessandro is that he is super normal, humble and respectful of others.

He is the fresh air that the fashion industry needs. I think we need to set an example inside the company and show to everyone the goals we want to achieve: respect each other, do not interfere with others, and do not rely on old age.

At the same time, "he is a very free man. He does not set limits on his mind, so he always keeps his open mind."

His ability to keep himself in a small circle allows him to see the world in different ways.

Through these reports, we know that Alessandro Michele not only has its keen sense of fashion, design and aesthetics, but also has a unique understanding. At the same time, he is also an easy-going and enthusiastic person.

In this way, his design can be inspiring and warm.

He also disliked the pretentious attitude in the fashion world and the superiority of himself as an elite and only a certain language.

In other words, Alessandro Michele is not fashions in fashion, but in aesthetic fashion and fashion.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.