Gucci is branching out into the jewellery business.
The Italian fashion house is set to launch its debut jewellery collection next summer under the direction of its chief talent Alessandro Michele. The news was reported by French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview with François-Henri Pinault, the CEO of the brand’s owner Kering.
“The extraordinarily rich and quite unique universe of Alessandro Michele lends itself well today [to the realm of high jewellery],” Pinault told the publication. “The jewellery sets he is creating for Gucci will take their place naturally on the market.”
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Gucci’s collection will apparently comprise 200 pieces, with an emphasis on colourful stones.
The move marks the latest milestone for Gucci under the direction of Michele, whose tenure at the house has resulted in a series of innovative catwalk shows held in quirky French locations, as well as collaborations with the Spanish artist Ignasi Monreal. He has also kept the brand in the headlines by snapping up popstar Harry Styles to front a menswear campaign, and pledging to make the prestige label animal fur-free.
The brand is not the only prestige fashion label testing out the jewellery sector at the moment – last month, the luxury shoe brand Aquazzura teamed up with five female jewelry designers on an exclusive footwear collection for Net-a-Porter, while “Game of Thrones” actress Sophie Turner recently designed a bracelet for Louis Vuitton to raise funds for UNICEF.
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