STYLE Edit: Why Gucci’s genderless Grip watch is at one with streetwear and skateboarding culture
Gucci’s new genderless Grip watch was inspired by skateboarders, and the brand is taking its new street style to London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai and Seoul
Streetwear is the big trend in global luxury this year. In the world’s largest market, China, millennials wanting to express their individuality are investing in finely designed and crafted T-shirts, hoodies and, above all, trainers.
Gucci’s new genderless Grip watch is firmly part of the movement. Inspired by the skateboarding culture, it echoes the function of grip tape that skaters rely on for their kick flips, tail slides and airwalks, gripping firmly to the wrist. With its unusual and distinctive display format, it combines toughness and artistry with contemporary, eye-catching elegance.
Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele has made no secret of his fascination for skateboarding communities, which he has praised as genuinely inclusive, diverse and radical. To celebrate its style and vitality, the brand has commissioned some of the most talented young artists, photographers and videographers to capture the subculture. It is documenting skaters, their friends and families while they are either skating or just hanging out. Shown in Gucci’s media channels, the resulting images, artworks and videos are an energetic portrait of action, creativity, inclusion and sociability. The cities featured are: London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai and Seoul.
Among the collaborators is the queer skateboarding project Unity, a Californian group founded by artist Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez in 2017. Unity hosts monthly skate gatherings around the world. The focus for Gucci is on its Paris skating days, and in London, the French photographer Clémentine Schneidermann is documenting a cast of skaters in typical street scenes.
In New York, skater Tyler Blue Golden is at the centre of a shooting by LA-based photographer Noah Dillon. Other projects will feature young skater couples in China and a group of skater girls from Seoul, documented with their families. In Tokyo, Japanese skater Shinpei Ueno will be portrayed with his local community of artists and musicians. Lastly, in Rome, photographer Niccolò Berretta will capture a cast of skaters including Orlando Miani, the artist and skater who starred in the Gucci Cruise 2020 advertising campaign.
To kick off its campaign, Gucci enlisted the underground artist Kieron Livingstone to create a street mural in East London’s famous Brick Lane. For his work, Livingstone used the brand’s interlocking G’s in a red, green and beige collage featuring skateboards and animal prints as the setting for a handsome gold Grip watch.
