FRIDA GIANNINI:
Creative Director of Gucci
Frida Giannini’s
unique talent and distinctive contemporary vision, which combines the values of
traditional artisanal skills with the very latest developments in fashion
technology, have underpinned her rise as the creative force behind one of the
world’s most celebrated fashion Houses. 
Born in Rome in 1972 into a
creative household – her father was an architect and her mother a professor of
art history – Giannini studied fashion design at Rome’s Fashion Academy before
apprenticing in a small ready-to-wear company. In 1997, she was hired by Fendi,
where she worked as a ready-to-wear designer for three seasons before being
named designer for Fendi leather goods.
In September 2002, she joined Gucci as Handbag Design Director.
Two years later, she was appointed to a newly created post, Creative Director of
Accessories, where she assumed unprecedented control of the design of bags,
shoes, luggage, small leather goods, silks, fine jewellery, gifts, watches and
eyewear.
Giannini flourished in this expanded role, and brought a powerful new
perspective to Gucci’s accessories collections. Using the Gucci archive for
inspiration, she transformed House classics such as the Flora scarf pattern into
novel and hugely successful designs.
She says now that her first visit to the
archive was one of the most significant revelations in her career, and over the
years she has adapted and redefined many iconic Gucci designs and motifs – from
the use of bamboo to the development of equestrian iconography, and from
reinterpreting the look of the famous horsebit loafer to modernizing the equally
celebrated Jackie bag.
In 2005, Giannini was named Creative Director of Gucci women’s
ready-to-wear, while retaining her responsibility for all accessories, and
shortly thereafter she took over menswear as well – thus becoming sole Creative
Director of the label.
Giannini accepted this significant responsibility with
aplomb, quickly establishing her individual stamp on the House. Her design
approach and focused management style are informed by sharp confidence and
decisiveness, as well as her uniquely feminine and distinctly Italian point of
view.
The combination of her skills has proven to be a powerful asset
for Gucci, as is witnessed by her consistent ability to design collections that
not only influence global fashion trends, but also are highly successful at
retail. 
A new design oeuvre for Gucci has emerged, one that juxtaposes the
House’s rich and inimitable past and its expertise in luxury craftsmanship, with
a present-day jet-set lifestyle and a pulsating sense of confidence, sensuality,
and glamour. This aesthetic has become Giannini’s trademark.
Giannini has also been instrumental in repositioning the
universe of Gucci beyond design, bringing a truly 21st-century spirit to bear.
Not only has she developed the architectural and interior environments for
Gucci’s store concept – paving the way for the House’s contemporary look in its
boutiques across the world – she also conceived the Gucci Museo, a destination
in the House’s birthplace, Florence, that opened during Gucci’s 90th anniversary
in 2011 and fulfilled her desire to narrate the evolution behind the House’s
icons.
Additionally, she is responsible for the creative direction of all
advertising campaigns and has worked with such illustrious directors as David
Lynch, Frank Miller, Chris Cunningham and Nicolas Winding Refn.
Under Giannini’s guidance, Gucci has strengthened its roots in
Hollywood and fostered its longstanding relationship with cinema. In 2006, Gucci
began a partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation, an organisation
created to protect and preserve motion picture history, and committed to funding
the restoration of at least one film every year.
In collaboration with the
Venice International Film Festival, the Gucci Award for Women in Cinema made its
debut in 2010 with the aim of spotlighting the unique contributions that women
make to the film industry in a wide range of disciplines. Most recently, Gucci
partnered with the Biennale di Venezia on the Biennale College – Cinema, a
program aimed at promoting new talents and offering them the opportunity to work
closely with well-known professionals in order to make micro-budget films.
Cognisant of film’s power to bring greater awareness and
understanding to critical subjects from around the world, the House established
the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, now in its seventh year, which provides
production and finishing finances, year-round support and guidance to domestic
and international documentary filmmakers with feature-length films highlighting
and humanising critical issues of social significance from around the world.
Gucci annually presents the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art Film Gala,
which honours film alongside fine art and deepens Gucci’s longstanding
commitment to the preservation and celebration of the arts.
Giannini’s broadening profile has also allowed for increased
activity for Gucci in the area of social responsibility, a personal commitment
that the designer has turned into a passion for the company. She is on the Board
of Directors of The Kering Foundation, which combats violence against women and
promotes their empowerment.
Now in its ninth year, the partnership that Giannini
established for Gucci with UNICEF has raised over 18 million US dollars to date.
It was Giannini’s work with UNICEF that became the inspiration for her ambitious
CHIME FOR CHANGE campaign for girls’ and women’s rights, which she co-founded in
2013 with Salma Hayek Pinault and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
Through its
crowd-funding partner Catapult, to date CHIME FOR CHANGE has raised over 5
million US dollars, fully funding 310 projects in nearly 80 countries through
101 non-profit partners.
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