Luxury house GUCCI unveiled its Spring Summer 2024 Men’s Collection that celebrates the 70th anniversary of the brand’s icon Gucci Horsebit Loafer, during the ongoing Milan Fashion Week. The Gucci Horsebeat Society event pays tribute to the iconic loafer through installations featuring ten international artists, designers, and creatives. The show at Spazio Maiocchi, curated by Alessio Ascari, was a multi-disciplinary exploration of the symbolism of the Horsebit Loafer. It fused fashion, art, and audio-visual mediums to create revolutionary reinterpretations. The show included a durational performance by Candela Capitán, a Spanish artist and choreographer, as well as DJ sets by the renowned Parisian electronic music label Ed Banger.
SPRING SUMMER 2024 COLLECTIONS
The Horsebit was created by Aldo Gucci in 1953 as a loafer ornament and has since become an international trademark for Gucci. It symbolizes the community embodied by the House and has been interpreted over the decades in hardware and motifs across accessories, jewelry, and ready-to-wear. The Gucci Horsebeat Society show reimagines the Horsebit‘s equestrian beginnings by fusing country club tradition with the spirit of artistic counterculture. The notion is brought to life by a multi-dimensional “house” comprised of sensory and quasi-domestic environments with specifically commissioned artworks. The ten artists showed their works in unexpected conversations, presenting an abstract and creative perspective on the everlasting Horsebit logo. Their methods range from applied to digital arts.
Throughout the exhibition, multiple spaces displayed the works of various artists. The courtyard featured a conceptual “patio” designed by Crosby Studios‘ Brooklyn-based Russian architect and multi-media artist Harry Nuriev, who uses the Horsebit in furniture design. Anna Franceschini, a visual artist, curated a “cabinet of curiosities” in the exhibition, focused on relics from the Gucci archives. Visitors were met by a theatrical “dining room” with a surrealist table built by American sculptor Pitterpatter and an exhibition of bizarre creatures by Canadian digital artist Blatant Space in the main gallery space. A film by British photographer and filmmaker Bolade Banjo documenting the history of the Horsebit through historical photos and modern footage was shown in the cinema room. Guests immersed themselves in the viewing experience by being surrounded by “light sculptures” made by Gyuhan Lee, a South Korean designer who reinterpreted the Horsebit symbol using the hanji paper crafting method.
The exhibition also depicted the Horsebit Loafer‘s progression over time. Since its introduction in 1953, the loafer has signified a more free and casual elegance, which was adopted in the 1960s by cultural icons and entertainers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Astaire, and Alain Delon. It became popular among teens, notably Jodie Foster, who was spotted skateboarding in it in 1977. It also became an emblem for career women in the 1980s, and it was modified in the 1990s to correspond with Gucci‘s sensual and refined aesthetic. The House’s interpretation of the Horsebit in recent years resulted in the production of the shearling-lined Princetown slippers.
Finally, the “closet” room displayed the Gucci Spring Summer 2024 Men’s Collection on mannequins, allowing for a meta discussion between the collection and the heritage of the Horsebit Loafer.
Discover every look from the GUCCI Spring Summer 2024 Men’s Collection in the gallery below:
Discover more images from the Gucci Horsebit Loafer exhibition in the gallery below:
