Gucci's New 'Cosmos' Exhibition Showcases 102 Years of the Florentine House's Finest Work

In Shanghai, Gucci opened the doors to its latest exhibition, Gucci Cosmos. The expansive showcase, open through June 25, explores the House’s most memorable designs from its century-old archive, offering both a tribute to the Italian brand’s Florentine beginnings and a nod to its everlasting creativity.

Designed by British contemporary artist Es Devlin, with curation from Italian fashion theorist and critic Maria Luisa Frisa, the exhibition houses eight “worlds,” each of which uplifts treasures (many never-before-seen) from the Gucci Archive, located in the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni in Florence.

“As a creative endeavor and expression of the times, the house and its history over the past century can be mapped through an ability to evolve and, more broadly, to expand on the mutability of our own consciousness and ability to make cognitive shifts,” said Devlin. “Rather like a garment itself that is able to be changed and re-tailored, like a shed skin that constantly renews itself.”

Frisa added, “This project was an extraordinary opportunity for me to traverse the universe of Gucci once again and tell its story through the ever-different lens of the clothes, objects, elements, people, and contexts that have made the House an iconic trailblazer within fashion and collective visual culture for over a century. The Gucci Cosmos exhibition is an immersive experience in which the House’s origin story and its history are continuously put to the test by the imagination of the future.”

The first world, “Portals,” tells the story of the House’s founder, Guccio Gucci, with three circular carousels housing the brand’s finest luggage designs, while the second, dubbed “Zoetrope,” takes inspiration from the equestrian domain, showcasing the label’s riding icons, like the Horsebit, invented in 1953, amidst evocative videos.

Next, “Eden” chronicles the tale of Flora, a naturalistic image of plants from 1966, with larger-than-life installations of the flowers and insects pictured in the design. “Two,” meanwhile, features 10-meter-tall statues wearing men’s and women’s suits from Gucci’s past and present, and “Archivio” details the imprint’s most iconic bags.

“Cabinet of Wonders” shows a rotating cabinet donning eclectic lines of garments, accessories and curios; “Carousel” offers a legion of 32 mannequins sporting Gucci clothing from the 1970s to now, and “Duomo” pays homage to the city of Florence, with two reproductions of Filippo Brunelleschi’s 15th-century dome for Santa Maria del Fiore.

Gucci Cosmos is now open at the West Bund Art Center in Shanghai, China, through June 25. Following its closure, the exhibition will tour the world.

Take a look inside above.

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