Gucci’s next runway show will be on Hollywood Boulevard

By

Robin Driver

Published
Oct 21, 2021

Italian luxury brand Gucci has announced that “Gucci Love Parade,” the upcoming collection from its creative director, Alessandro Michele, will be presented with a show on one of the most iconic streets in the world: Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard.

 
The brand already revealed in May that it would be showing in Los Angeles, but provided no further details about the event’s location at the time. In parallel with the runway show, which is scheduled for November 2, 2021, Gucci said that it will also be donating funds to local LA charities.
 
“Gucci is proud to highlight the intersection of creativity and culture within the City of Los Angeles, poised for rebirth post pandemic,” explained the brand in a release. “As part of Gucci’s Changemakers program, powered by Gucci Equilibrium, Gucci will provide significant support to the Los Angeles and Hollywood communities through a donation to the city’s most critical needs: homelessness and mental health.”

Michele, who joined the Kering-owned house as creative director in 2015, announced in 2020 that he would be abandoning the “worn-out” rhythm of the seasonal fashion calendar in order to adopt a two-show-a-year model providing “a new cadence, closer to [his] expressive call.”
 
His most recent collection for the brand was shown via a short film in April of this year, kicking off celebrations for Gucci’s 100th anniversary. Dubbed “Aria,” the collection riffed on iconic looks from the Gucci archives, notably the red velvet suit designed for the label by Tom Ford and worn by Gwyneth Paltrow to the 1996 MTV Music Awards.
 
November’s LA runway event will be the first time Gucci has hosted a show in the United States in six years. The last time the label showed stateside, it was to present its Cruise collection in New York in 2015. The brand had been planning to host a show presenting its Cruise 2021 collection in San Francisco in May 2020, but had to cancel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  
 
It won’t, however, be Michele’s first time hosting an event in Hollywood. The designer took over the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for a party celebrating the launch of the Gucci Guilty fragrance in November 2018.
 
Gucci, which accounts for more than half of French luxury group Kering’s revenues, put in a disappointing performance in its parent company’s recently reported third-quarter financial results. The brand saw a significant slowdown in its growth, which was only 3.8% compared to the previous year’s Q3, as the label’s sales dropped 3% year over year in the key Asia-Pacific region.