When Gucci Met Balenciaga for AW21

Shocked would be an understatement of my reaction to the news of two Kering group's star brands teaming up for the alliance of the century, Gucci and Balenciaga. The star brands, led by Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, and Balenciaga’s creative director and Vetements founder Demna Gvasalia, have unveiled their first ever joint collection and branding, as part of Gucci's AW21 Aria presentation which took place last week.

According to the show’s invite, Gucci’s collection, titled Aria, is promised to be “one of the house’s greatest milestone moments,” a celebration full of tributes and emotional connections to the brand’s heritage, including homage to Tom Ford’s 90s designs and the brand’s equestrian motifs. Balenciaga's fierce silhouettes were finished with all of Gucci’s signature bedazzling treatments and trimmings. Pieces that stood out were Gucci monogramed Balenciaga Hourglass bag, complete with the staple Balenciaga “B”, dual-logo oversized outerwear, monogramed crystal-encrusted hourglass suits, and bedazzled heart clutches.

Gucci putting a Balenciaga logo on their Aria collection, which pays homage to Gucci’s 100th anniversary, is totally unique, completely not ever been done before, and a very courageously smart move from a marketing perspective. 

Fashion collaborations has always been about merging the mainstream with luxury; brands of such prominence rarely join forces, and are definitely not in the business of partnering with rivals. So what triggered this move? Is it that the Gucci/Balenciaga hype has fizzled and they needed to rock the luxury retail boat and create a buzz in the market? Is this a desperate move from Kering to recover some of its 2020 loses when it was heavily impacted by COVID-19, especially after store closures in Asia-Pacific; and the gradual closure of stores across Europe and the United States. What if this is the beginning to a new era of collaborations within luxury brands? I’m hoping that this would be the start of something we might continue to see within companies like LVMH, and Richemont, and maybe consider to offer something that is less logo-centric.

The collection is obviously made for a social media-dominated offering, targeting millennials and Gen-Z’s who have a thing for logomania. Expect to see the collection used in influencer/user-generated content to gear the conversations between the two fashion houses and their consumers. I also believe that the collaboration banks on Chinese, Russian, and middle eastern consumers who gravitate towards bedazzled, over-the-top, SO EXTRA designer duds. The crystal covered pieces, with the exception of crystal-encrusted heart-shaped clutches, were too loud for my taste, and I cannot imagine wearing that in real life, but, in addition to the above-mentioned consumers, the collection will definitely excite artists and performers in the music industry ready for a post-Covid-19 celebration.