Gucci Setting Sail In Rome

The latest line to take its cruise line on an excursion is Gucci, which will debut its 2009 Cruise collection with a gala evening in Rome in early July.

The soiree will also celebrate Gucci’s 70th anniversary in The Eternal City, where the Florentine label has had a flagship on central via Condotti since the late Thirties.

The event will also be something of a return of the conquering hero moment for Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini, a Roman who creates in Florence for Gucci, a label that traditionally shows in Milan.

“I am thrilled to be bringing the Gucci Cruise Collection to my home town,” says Giannini, who will unveil her cruise concoctions on July 8.

This century has witnessed a trend of mega European fashion labels taking their cruise collections aboard, principally to New York, as Gucci itself has done. But the latest twist is cruising in less typical waters. Chanel showed in Miami last week; now it’s Gucci’s turn in Rome.

Gucci is planning a high-powered runway show, dinner and late night party for celebrities, VIPs and editors to be staged in a villa on the Janiculum, the city’s western ridge on whose crest is a giant equestrian statue of Garibaldi.

For the past three years, Gucci has shown its cruise line in a fully-fledged show in Manhattan. However locating Cruise 2009 in Rome makes double sense seeing the house is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Via Condotti flagship, recently refurbished, according to Giannini’s new design concept.

Gucci is mum about the event location, but insiders say it will be a Roman Villa not unfamiliar to Garibaldi, on the Janiculum, the hilly central area where Giannini grew up and Garibaldi fought his famous defense of the Roman Republic against French Marshall Oudinot in 1849.

“I wanted to do something very special to celebrate Gucci’s 70 years in Rome. In addition to a party, I thought it would be perfect to show off this fresh, young collection in the middle of a Roman summer,” said the designer, who plans to present a few extra looks that will be offered exclusively in the Rome store.

Gucci’s bash falls in the middle of the city’s Alta Roma, the Italian equivalent of haute couture, ensuring increased media coverage for the Florentine house.

This cruise collection will also be presented to press in New York in June by private appointment, latterly in Gucci regional showrooms worldwide and eventually be available online at www.gucci.com.

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