The horsebit was first written into Gucci’s
vocabulary in the Fifties, when it was used on heavy tan leather saddle-stitched
handbags. Since then, the horsebit has been both miniaturized and maximized as
hardware; luxuriously schemed into embossed or burned-out surfaces on leather
suede and velvet; turned into repeat patterns printed on silk and sculpted into
the components of precious jewelry.
The horsebit played a crucial role in
marking out the Gucci loafer as a time-traversing design classic. The snaffle
was introduced as a decoration on the soft and comfortable brown or black
leather Gucci men’s moccasins in 1953. They graced the feet of Hollywood’s leading men including Clark
Gable, John Wayne and Fred Astaire, and when women's versions appeared in 1968,
they became the choice of sophisticated women looking for a luxurious kind of
comfort.
Horsebit
In 1980, the men’s horsebit loafer was added to the permanent
collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sealing its fate as a
fashion
classic.
Embracing the icon’s strong heritage and blending it with her fresh contemporary design, Frida Giannini has now given the horsebit a new lease of life in a whole host of wearable ways. Adapting interlocking prints from a red and blue Gucci pattern used for shoulder bags and silk blouses in 1969-1970, she has transformed them into mini-versions printed on flowing dresses or has enlarged designs to an exaggerated scale on travel-totes and belts ensuring that this latest installment of the horsebit is set to run and run.
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Embracing the icon’s strong heritage and blending it with her fresh contemporary design, Frida Giannini has now given the horsebit a new lease of life in a whole host of wearable ways. Adapting interlocking prints from a red and blue Gucci pattern used for shoulder bags and silk blouses in 1969-1970, she has transformed them into mini-versions printed on flowing dresses or has enlarged designs to an exaggerated scale on travel-totes and belts ensuring that this latest installment of the horsebit is set to run and run.
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