Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2025

Inside the New Gucci Archive in Florence With Its Maestro Alessandro Michele

Inside the New Gucci Archive in Florence With Its Maestro Alessandro Michele

Gucci's Alessandro Michele gives Vogue a tour of the house's new Archive in the Palazzo Settimanni, a Renaissance gem in Florence's Santo Spirito neighborhood.

According to Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, archives are living organisms, not mausoleums or frigid clinical spaces where a brand’s history is kept frozen and mummified. A cultivated and eclectic collector and lover of archeology, Michele’s constant dialogue with the past has shaped his work at Gucci, whose 100th anniversary has been celebrated this year. As a cherry on the birthday cake, the Gucci Archive has just opened in Florence. Housed in the Palazzo Settimanni, a Renaissance gem located in the lively Oltrarno neighborhood of Santo Spirito, it has been meticulously restored to its original splendor and refurbished to house the brand’s vast collections.

Gucci acquired the aristocratic Palazzo Settimanni in 1953; throughout the years, it has served as a factory, a workshop, and a showroom. Now, across its five floors, it displays rows of Bamboo and Jackie bags, elegant travel trunks from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s, bizarre lifestyle objects, the famous Flora foulards with the original hand-drawn sketches by illustrator Vittorio Accornero, and, but of course, Alessandro Michele’s hyperbolic creations for the likes of Björk and Florence Welch.

Curated with the collaboration of FIT’s Valerie Steele, the archive provides an entertaining experience. The idiosyncratic spirit of Michele seems to preside, rather amused, over the rarefied Renaissance atmosphere of the palazzo. However, with history being questioned and brand legacies being scrutinized-sometimes celebrated, other times ignored or erased-archives are places of meaning. I sat with Michele, to talk about his thoughts on the mysterious life of objects, the shamanic properties of Tilda Swinton, and the many teddy bears populating his childhood, and much more.



How did you bring the archive to life?


Alessandro Michele: When I arrived at Gucci, this palazzo in Via delle Caldaie was dormant, no one had any idea what to do with it. There was a sort of misunderstanding between the company and this beautiful place. It was like having a Caravaggio painting hung over the sofa at home, thinking it was a copy-but it was actually the original! When I became creative director, Marco Bizzarri asked me, what do you want to do with it? I’d been waiting for that question. So we started working on it, giving it back its dignity, because this is a sancta sanctorum; it was here that Gucci’s fire started burning, so to speak. At that time, when Gucci acquired the building in 1953, turning an historic Renaissance palazzo inhabited for centuries by aristocratic Florentine families into a leather goods workshop was a rather modern gesture, something that today is commonplace. What could’ve looked as an act of social outrage was actually a very clever idea-the idea that the past isn’t something inert, lifeless, and untouchable. Taking over the palazzo also contributed to revitalizing the ancient Santo Spirito neighborhood, full of artisans, blacksmiths, gilders, wood carvers, and goldsmiths, as the Ponte Vecchio is a few steps away. It was smack in the middle of a sort of Silicon Valley of that time. Working at its renovation for me has been pure delight, as I’m a collector and conservator of things-and a contemplator of things; I’ve helped to create the shell in which these beautiful things can be admired over time.

A.M.: Indeed it was. We peeled off the old coatings obfuscating its beauty as a wonderful vessel of history, working with descialbatura, which is a technique used in archeology of delicately removing the layers of paint hiding ancient frescoes. We brought to light incredible original grottesche dating back from the 16th to the 18th century. The palazzo started to talk, to have a voice, as it probably had when it was built in the first place. And finally we brought the bags back home. We put them back where they belong, we put them to bed, we took them back to sleep in their mum’s house. It’s a wonderful thing, it’s an act of affection and love towards the label, towards the job that each of these bags has done in its past, towards the women who have carried them around, who had them travel the world to faraway places… Now they are kept safe and at peace in beautiful linen boxes-I wish I had these very same boxes for all the bags in my own wardrobe.



I guess that celebrating Gucci's 100th anniversary opening a place so rich in history has a special meaning for you.


A.M.: When I was appointed creative director six years ago, we didn’t have the time to worry about the archive. There was too much to do, so Palazzo Settimanni had to wait. So it was kept closed and it waited, which I think is a rather beautiful thing. It patiently waited until we had the time, energy, and attention to take care of it. Now it looks beautiful, it has a good Karma, you can feel it as soon as you enter to visit. It also conveys a positive message for Florence, for Tuscany; it’s a message that says quite a lot about the Florentine Renaissance, which has actually produced much more than we think. It hasn’t just produced the visual language of the West, that point of view hasn’t just produced the cinema and the movies, so to speak, but also many other things, hidden, subterranean, and almost undetectable yet very great.

It is indeed true that the space exudes a sense of calm and serenity, very close to the Renaissance idea of equilibrium and beauty. It feels like visiting a welcoming house, not like entering a secluded bank vault or an antiseptic clinical space, like many other brand’s archives I’ve visited.


A.M.: Our approach has been very intimate, I’m used to collecting and keeping things, but not letting them die. My home is full of apparently useless objects which could easily be catalogued and let die a forgotten death. But it isn’t the case with this archive, which has been conceived as an act of love, as when I welcome in my house beautiful things that help me survive—it’s actually me surviving through them, not the other way around. I know, it’s a subtle difference, but it’s important to understand my curatorial approach to this place. It’s a humanistic approach, I’ve given it a life as if it were a home, with all its rooms beautifully restored; I wanted the objects to feel at ease. When I was a kid I always took great care of my many teddy bears, to which I was unfortunately allergic. Each night in turn one of them slept with me; they were lined up neatly on a small side table, each with its own little blanket. I wanted them to be well and feel comfortable. I have a very animistic approach to objects; I think they’re idols, in the ancient etymology of the word, hence I want them to feel good, to be well. This is their home, they’re like wonderful toys deserving serenity and quiet. And every time I’m here, I’d like to open one of those linen boxes, take one of the bags sleeping inside and bring it out for a walk. For me, there’s something vital in the things of the past, especially in everyday objects. Bags are recipients, containers of our lives’ experiences, they’ve taken planes, they’ve checked-in, they’ve seen love stories ending, weddings, divorces… they’re living beings. Those who think that objects aren’t alive are eluding a great truth, however mysterious it may seem.

The many rooms of the palazzo are each named with rather bizarre and wondrous monikers: Serapis, Hortus Deliciarum, Ganimede’s Meadow, Maison de l’Amour. What’s their origin?


A.M. These epithets aren’t immediately linked to descriptive fashion terms, even if I believe that everything is eventually linked to fashion, because fashion is life. Some of the names refer to actual physical places around Florence, names of old botanical or vegetable gardens still existing. Other names derive from the ancient Greek and are evocative of bizarre, strange destinations; they’re names inhabited by a sense of journey, they somehow bring about the magic of mythology. In my six years journey as Gucci creative director, I’ve invented these names to almost map a path, because words and imagination are maps that can be rearranged as we please, they’re at the service of our life.

The idea of a journey definitely comes to mind when you tour the archive, which feels like a modern wunderkammer. The Serapis room in particular is rather spectacular : the metallic parallelepipedon at its center opens up mechanically like a treasure chest, revealing inside the bespoke outfits you’ve designed for Bjork, Florence Welch, or Lana del Rey. It’s reminiscent of the stage sets of baroque theater and their marvelous mechanical machines, isn’t it?


A.M. Indeed. The idea of the wunderkammer is linked to that of travel and, yes, the mechanical box is rather theatrical. I think that fashion is a sort of theater-not in the baroque sense of inducing a sense of wonder, shock, and magnificence, but in that fashion is something that moves, it has an inherent movement, it isn’t still. Fashion objects compose and recompose like our lives. The mechanical box in the Serapis room has certainly to do with the stage outfits it conceals or reveals, but it’s also a metaphor of the lives of those outfits, which is deeply linked to that of the women who wore them. And I like things that apparently seem like one thing and then become another. Lately I’ve been giving much thought to the idea of ambiguity, which is fashion’s most beautiful quality. Ambiguity doesn’t only refer to gender; according to its etymological roots, no one is just one thing but every personality is mercurial, changeable. This is the nature of fashion, and the objects housed in this archive are intrinsically ambiguous, they’ve been inherited from the past but they’re present today in their three-dimensional physical form. You can actually touch them, and metaphorically it’s like if you were touching the past, which has a sort of ambiguous, fascinating connotation.

Talking about the past, its value is being questioned today. Young generations seem to acknowledge only the here and now. To know the past doesn’t seem a necessary tool to understand the present. Making Gucci’s history visible to be read and passed on to young generations-was it one of the purposes of opening the archive?


A.M.: I have an everyday dialogue with the past, which for me has full existence and presence. It just doesn’t make sense to say that the past doesn’t have a dialogue with us; if in this instant I go out the door to take a walk in the Santo Spirito neighborhood, I’m surrounded more by what has been than by what will be. The past is an essential, inescapable constituent of the present. For me, the past is the present-this is my constant assumption. In my creative practice I’m not recovering or recapturing the past. I don’t like to say that I’m recovering the past, because this past is a present that I live always. I myself am a past that speaks to today. The elimination of the past, to erase it-it’s an unnatural process. My partner Vanni has made me understand that I’m using the past as a fuel; it depends on which chemical reagent you put it in contact with. For me the past is a formidable entity, I breathe it like something which exists today. The way I use vintage-it’s like a bridge, if I have to cross a river, will I have to have a bridge to reach the place I want to reach, or not? We’re all on that bridge; let’s see where it leads us. So I invite young people not to be fooled by the bi-dimensional life we live today, but to observe things with care, more deeply and accurately. The dialogue with the past generates great seeds of knowledge. The future we all talk about is perhaps less fascinating than the present, which instead is full and rich with experience-every single minute of it. The patrimony of a fashion brand like Gucci… its rich legacy speaks to you. It’s up to you to listen to it or not. But relationships don’t last very long if you don’t listen and speak to each other.

So you see yourself as a sort of medium between the past and the present…


A.M.: I believe that fashion designers are indeed mediums, yes, because you make objects and dresses that actually speak, they’re idols, they’re talking objects… Recently I went to Rome’s Mattatoio art space to see Tilda Swinton performing Olivier Saillard’s “Embodying Pasolini”; it was about giving new life to the clothes the Italian costume designer Danilo Donati designed for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s movies. It was extraordinary. Tilda didn’t actually wear the dresses, she just laid them on her body, as if they had a life of their own; they exuded a gravitational pull which eludes us, some kind of magical power. It felt like a shamanic ritual. Etruscan priests prophesied by looking at the entrails of animals, their narration was mediated through their energy. When we create dresses and garments, there are stories taking shape through them-obviously they’re just pieces of fabric, someone sewed them. But then there are stories happening and taking shape around them which we narrate, which you in turn will imagine when wearing that dress, through my narration… So to answer your question, yes, we as designers we’re mediums, we’re a connection, a channel with the objects. They look like inanimate things-but they’re not, they help to describe what’s human. What we designers do is an imitation of nature; we’re fond of apparently inanimate things. But we don’t know if they really are or not. Science doesn’t tell us everything.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
Nurse who raped woman continued working for a year despite police alert
Drought forces closures of England’s canal routes, canceling boat holidays
Sweet tooth scents: food-inspired perfumes surge as weight-loss drugs suppress appetites
Experts warn Britain dangerously reliant on imported food
Family of Notting Hill Carnival murder victim call event unmanageable
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
×