Gucci's legendary silk scarf is back in a big way
To celebrate the launch of Gucci's art-fueled 90 x 90 project, L'OFFICIEL takes a trip to the heart of Florence, where the label's rich silk scarf heritage comes to life.
Not everyone is invited to walk through the stone-arched entryway of Palazzo Settimanni, the unassuming Florentine home of Gucci’s archives. Gucci acquired the 15th-century jewel box of a palace, on the left bank of the Arno river, in 1953. The palazzo has lived many lives since its days as an aristocratic home: as a factory, a workshop, and even a showroom during the Tom Ford era. Gucci’s former Creative Director Alessandro Michele unveiled the palazzo’s new purpose as an archive in 2021, declaring it the “inner sanctum from where one sets out for Gucci’s holy lands.”
To the inner sanctum I went, one sun-drenched Friday during Milan Fashion Week, in pursuit of the creative history behind the legendary Gucci scarf. Some elements of Gucci’s history, particularly those of the heady Tom Ford days, are the stuff of fashion lore; but this narrative unfolds decades earlier, and it involves a princess whose dedication to the brand would forever alter its future
The label’s first foray into silks was in the 1950s. By 1958, Gucci had partnered with an esteemed producer from San Fermo della Battaglia, a village near Lake Como renowned for its silk and weaving. The first Gucci scarf was nautical-themed; prints celebrating leisure pursuits like horseback riding and golfing soon followed. Each 90 centimeter–by–90 centimeter silk masterpiece had its edges meticulously gathered and stitched by hand, resulting in a distinctive rolled hem. Long before the advent of digital printers, each color was hand-screened, with some scarves requiring more than 30 printing steps to complete the intricate designs. It was the beginning of the Florentine house’s long association with innovation in silk.
In 1966, Princess Grace of Monaco popped into the Gucci boutique in Milan to purchase a leather handbag. As a gesture of gratitude, founder Guccio Gucci’s son Rodolfo commissioned illustrator Vittorio Accornero de Testa to create a scarf in her honor. Christened “Flora,” the elaborate composition was ready in just one week; featuring bouquets of lilies, poppies, anemones, and dozens of other flowers joined by berries, butterflies, and insects in a scene of such detail, it demanded the use of 37 distinct colors. Sandro Botticelli’s “La Primavera,” with its sumptuous botanicals and depiction of the goddess Flora, may have inspired his illustration. The Renaissance masterpiece has adorned the nearby Uffizi Gallery since 1919.
At the palazzo, it was difficult not to be distracted by the archive’s 47,000 artifacts, from vintage green-and-red coffee cup sets found in the basement to the collection of original Bamboo bags on the ground floor. Elsewhere, a worn 1930s leather suitcase boasted stickers from the finest hotels of the time, triumphantly plastered to its sides: Le Meurice in Paris, the Copacabana Palace in Rio. In the dedicated scarf room, a curio cabinet displayed vintage flora and fauna–printed silks. Tucked away in a drawer below the glass vitrines were Accornero de Testa’s original designs on paper. Notes were scribbled in the white space: a series of numbers, some circled. It was a language that guided the silk printer to create the precise pigments required for Accornero de Testa’s botanicals to mirror reality.
Throughout the decades, each Gucci creative director has interpreted the classic floral, fauna, equestrian, nautical, and GG motifs with their unique vision. Frida Giannini revived scarf prints in the early aughts; Michele reinvigorated Gucci with pleated garden-print dresses, and even dressed A$AP Rocky in a pink headscarf, à la Princess Grace. On the runway this season, the scarf is back in a big way: Three finale looks paired floor-grazing trench coats with headscarves in fluorescent green, rich burgundy, and black. Also this spring, nine contemporary artists—including Chinese artist Yu Cai and Milan-based illustrator Gio Pastori—have reimagined iconic Gucci prints for the label’s 90 x 90 project, incorporating the silk scarf in their interpretations of five key recurring themes.
Assouline’s Gucci: The Art of Silk (available in April 2025), charts the house’s rise through its exquisite scarves. In addition to bringing the 90 x 90 project to life, it features never-before-seen imagery from Gucci’s atelier. A sojourn to Florence is not strictly necessary in order to dive into Gucci’s silk heritage—but should the opportunity present itself, I’d highly recommend it.
This story appears in the L'OFFICIEL USA May 2025 issue. Buy it here.
ODEL: Matilde Buoso ELITE MODELS
CASTING: SimoBart Casting
HAIR: Loris Rocchi
MAKEUP: Filippo Ferrari
PRODUCED BY: Pier Guccione Prata
DIGITAL TECH: Michele Lannotti
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Alessandra Lupi
LIGHTING ASSISTANT: Gianandrea Murelli
