Gucci and Balenciaga's Hacker Project is now available to shop

Publish date: 2024-05-22

Gucci is celebrating its 100 years in the business in style. Earlier this year, the Italian fashion house put out its Gucci Aria collection, where it celebrated the history of the label, partnered up with Balenciaga and harked back to some of the most famous Gucci moments in history – and the collection is finally available to shop now.

"Going through the hour when everything originated is a great responsibility for me, and a joyful privilege," creative director Alessandro Michele explained in his show notes about the collection when it was first revealed.

"It means being able to open the locks of history and linger over the edge of the beginning... Gucci’s long history can’t be contained within a single inaugural act."

Gregoire Avenel

Michele explained that he looked to influences from the likes of Tom Ford (who headed up Gucci in the 1990s), and from Balenciaga's creative director Demna Gvasalia for the collection, who worked with him on several logo-heavy pieces.

"Gucci becomes for me a hacking lab, made of incursions and metamorphoses. I have plundered the non-conformist rigour of Demna Gvasalia and the sexual tension of Tom Ford; I have lingered over the anthropological implications of what shines, working on the brightness of fabrics; I have celebrated the equestrian world of Gucci transfiguring it into a fetish cosmogony; I have sublimated Marilyn Monroe’s silhouette and old Hollywood’s glamour; I sabotaged the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie and the codes of men’s tailoring."

Rather than a straightforward collaboration, Gucci describes itself as having "hacked" Balenciaga. Either way, the two major labels working together on this one-off collection will likely be retail gold, while Michele's recreation of one of Ford's most famous Gucci suits, which was worn on the red carpet by Gwyneth Paltrow, will also be a must-have in any fashionista's book.

Gregoire Avenel

Ron Galella//Getty Images

The Hacker Project maxi GG Hourglass jacket

Women's The Hacker Project Knife pump

The Hacker Project small Hourglass bag

Women's The Hacker Project Triple S sneaker

The historic collection has finally hit stores, although we don't think it will be available for long. Click through above to some of our highlights, and head here to shop the entire collection.

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