Gucci’s highly anticipated store in downtown Detroit has officially opened for business. Located on 1274 Library St., the 3,500-square-foot boutique opened to the public on Friday, Aug. 19. Shoppers can expect an array of women’s and men’s ready-to-wear apparel and accessories, jewelry, watches, and home goods from the Gucci Décor line.
The new Detroit boutique “blends the historic architecture of Library Street with the spirit of the luxury House of Gucci,” according to a press release. The store’s façade and interior features restored glass tiles and geometric metalwork. The custom patterned monochrome floors were designed to mirror the exterior paneling. And as part of the brand’s goal to implement energy-efficient technologies at its stores worldwide, the new store is LEED-certified and features LED lighting.
Gucci Changemakers North America, the brand’s social impact initiative and scholarship program, commissioned poet and Detroit native jessica Care moore to pen an original poem reflecting Gucci’s commitment to Detroit, according to a press release. Titled “We Wear The Working Day,” a stanza from the poem has been hand painted on an exterior wall of the Siren Hotel:
“The spirit of a fashionable city is felt // As soon as she walks in. // The spark lives inside the patterned faces // of her community.”
Gucci first set its eyes on the city in 2019 when the luxury brand chose Detroit as one of 12 cities for its Gucci North America Changemakers program. The initiative aims to increase inclusion and diversity within the fashion industry and across communities. Since then, Gucci has connected with several Detroit-based nonprofits and institutions; in 2019, the Changemakers program hosted a diversity training and panel discussion at Cass Technical High School and presented the school’s Fashion Club with a $10,000 Changemakers award. The following year, nonprofit Design Core Detroit received a $45,000 grant from the inaugural Gucci Changemakers North America Impact Fund, which the organization used to power its Design in the City program. As part of that program, seven fashion and accessory designers received stipends to create installations and were paired with local commercial spaces to host their work during the 2020 Detroit Month of Design.
To celebrate the store opening and this year’s Detroit Month of Design, Gucci and Detroit Vs Everybody are back with a new collection. Launching exclusively at Gucci’s Detroit store on Sept. 8, the DVE 2.0 collection will feature items including a baseball hat, bags, and custom Detroit Vs Everybody patches. Gucci first collaborated with Tommey Walker of Detroit Vs Everybody in 2021 on a line of T-shirts, marking the first product collaboration for the luxury brand’s Changemakers initiative.
Also coming up in September, Gucci will collaborate with Detroit Month of Design to host Building a Lasting Impact, an exhibition taking place Sept. 9-11 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. The installation will highlight the application portfolios from the 2022 Gucci Changemakers Scholars program.
Visit gucci.com for more information on Gucci’s new Detroit location.
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