Gucci Essence Classic Duffle Traces House's Luggage Origins to 1897 Savoy Porter
The Gucci Essence Classic duffle bag showcases the GG monogram on a gently structured coated-canvas design, crafted for "life on the move." It debuts mid-fashion-month, offering a practical solution for travel across New York, London, Milan, and Paris. This bag's history traces back to 1897, when a young Guccio Gucci left Florence for London, working as a porter at The Savoy, where he managed the luggage of affluent guests. The Savoy represented modern luxury, featuring London's first electric lift. In 1921, Gucci returned to Florence to establish a luggage atelier, embedding travel in the brand's identity. Now, under Demna's guidance, the Essence Classic distills Gucci's essence into a single spacious item. The bag is now available for purchase.
Key facts
- The Gucci Essence Classic is a softly structured coated-canvas duffle featuring the GG monogram, designed for "life on the move"
- Guccio Gucci left Florence for London in 1897 as a teenager and worked as a porter at The Savoy
- The Savoy's scarlet "ascending room," London's first electric lift, took about seven minutes to reach the upper floors
- Guccio Gucci returned to Florence and opened his luggage atelier in 1921
- Demna is mining the Gucci archive, described as a compost heap where old codes go in and something newly pungent comes out
- The bag's name is comically literal: the essence of Gucci reduced to one capacious object
- 105 years separate the opening of Guccio's Florence shop from the present, and nearly 130 years separate it from his Savoy porter days
- The Gucci Essence Classic is available to shop
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- Gucci
- The Savoy
- AnOther
Locations
- Florence
- Italy
- London
- United Kingdom
- New York
- United States
- Milan
- Paris
- France