Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini presents The New Bamboo, a 21st century reinterpretation of one of Gucci’s most iconic handbag designs. In reinventing this House classic, Giannini blends tradition with high-tech innovation, and history with high-fashion.
The original Gucci Bamboo bag was a small constructed handbag crafted in pigskin with a curved bamboo handle. First created in 1947, the design rose to fame as an example of the expertise of Gucci’s craftsmen, who found inventive solutions to war-time rationing of materials. As bamboo cane could still be imported from Japan, they heated and bent it into a semi-circle to make a decorative handle for the bag. The design, innovative and distinctive, was an instant hit. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the Gucci Bamboo bag was worn by countless international celebrities, sealing its future fate as one of Gucci’s most beloved and successful handbag creations.
The New Bamboo
The bag has now been proposed both in its historical shape as well as in a new, larger scale. For the first time, nickel has been introduced as the hardware for the bag, giving it a cooler touch. Like the original, the bag has a long leather strap to complement the bamboo handle, but it has now been augmented with a second strap of draped metal chain with a braided base, which adds a sexier touch. Also new are the bamboo fringe tassels.
Page 2, right: Liz Taylor and Paul Newman on the set of the film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in 1958 (photo courtesy of Rue Des Archives)
Page 3: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni Sarkozy (photo courtesy of AFP)
Page 4, from left to right: Ashley Greene (photo courtesy of Gucci/Getty Images), Florence Welch (photo courtesy of Gucci/Xposure)
