Fashion star: Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri: “Creativity is a consequence of diversity”

It’s almost a century since Gucci was established as a luxury leather goods company by Florentine Guccio Gucci. In that time it has grown into $14.9 billion lifestyle brand, as renowned for its clothing and now interiors as its archetypal bags bearing the “GG” monogram. Driving the brand’s creative evolution over the years there has of course been Tom Ford (1994-2004) who was charged with introducing Gucci’s ready-to-wear line—instilling it with a scintillatingly sexy aesthetic. This was followed by an era of unadulterated glamour under Frieda Giannini (2006-2014). But, as many millennials would argue, Gucci really came into its golden age four years ago after the appointment of Alessandro Michele—who had worked behind the scenes at the company for 12 years—as creative director.

“With Alessandro, from the very beginning, we put creativity at the centre of everything we were doing,” Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri told Vogue’s Suzy Menkes at the Condé Nast Luxury conference in Cape Town this week. “We didn’t talk about figures or numbers because I don’t think that’s the way fashion should be managed. In a way we’re lucky because at that time, many designers were stuck. Everything was very much market driven.”

Michele’s debut AW15 collection (which hit Milan’s runway in February 2015) was made in just five days according to Bizzarri, who was also appointed in January 2015, demonstrating “the creativity of Alessandro and the power and the strength of people behind him.” The appointment was probably one of the best business decisions in fashion that decade, and has seen Kering’s profits double and Gucci declared “the hottest brand on the planet” in the Lyst Index.

But in February 2019, a backlash ensued when a Gucci product—a black knit balaclava with red lips that encircled an opening for the wearer’s mouth—was widely condemned for evoking blackface. Dapper Dan, a Gucci collaborator took to Twitter, stating: “I am a black man before I am a brand… There cannot be inclusivity without accountability.” The incident came less than two months after Prada pulled figurines from its New York store that resembled blackface, and the same week as Adidas removed an almost entirely white pair of sneakers from a collection inspired by the Harlem Renaissance to commemorate Black History Month.

Gucci’s response wasn’t immediate, but it was considered. Around a week after the incident, following a public apology, the brand announced a four-pillar initiative for diversity and awareness, which will involve hiring global and regional directors for diversity and inclusion, setting up a multicultural design scholarship, as well as launching a diversity and inclusivity awareness programme and a global exchange programme. “You need to create the bricks and mortar infrastructure, not just the soft part, if you want to have longevity,” Bizzarri told Vogue, when we met at the conference.

At his side, speaking that day, was supermodel Naomi Campbell—who, along with Dan and the rapper Will.i.am, is a member of the Changemakers Council that Gucci has assembled to, in Bizzarri’s words, help them better understand “what could be relevant for new generations in different parts of the world”. The council comprises business leaders and CEOs (Ivy McGregor, Susan Chokachi, Kimberly Blackwell), activists (Bethann Hardison, DeRay McKesson), writers (Michaela Angela Davis, Yaseen Eldik), poets (Cleo Wade) and educators (Eric Avila) among others. “We want to have people who are speaking up, telling us what they feel, in order to help us in understanding,” Bizzarri says. The position of Gucci’s global director for diversity and inclusion is still open for applications.

Bizzari anticipates the fellowship programmes will increase mobility among Gucci’s 18,000 employees. “We are a big company, and this will give people the opportunity to move to Milan or vice versa, from Milan to other regions,” he explains. “I love the idea of imparting education, the chance to give to this younger generation, and give us different perspectives at the brand.”

This symbiosis should be truly international, he says, with “the influence of young designers coming from everywhere,” before citing Africa as “one part of the world that could really impact what we do creatively [at the Gucci headquarters] in Rome.” The programme will partner with up to 12 colleges around the world, four of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, including: Radford College (Accra, Ghana), Design Academy of Fashion (Cape Town, South Africa), University of Lagos (Lagos, Nigeria) and McEnsal School of Fashion Design (Nairobi, Kenya). Each college will run a contest to nominate a student who will then join Gucci for one year starting in January 2020. All students will receive board, lodging and a stipend, and ultimately the opportunity to work for Gucci.

Beyond the classroom, over the coming years, Gucci is looking to extend its retail footprint across Africa. Currently the brand has stores in South Africa, franchises in Morocco with presence in multi-brand shops in Nigeria and Egypt. They also intend to source materials from the continent.

“I really believe, especially in our industry, creativity is a consequence of diversity. And the more you are exposed to diversity, the more you are creative, because you see things from different angles,” he explains. It should also be said, for the more market-minded CEOs reading, that recent studies have found diversity is beneficial for business, with companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.

Indicating around the room to the many high-profile figures from the luxury industries, Bizzarri stresses the importance of creating a truly global network. “It cannot be done by just one company, it’s something that needs to be done together,” he says. “We need to think a little bit more long term than we usually do. I’m not going to say that [our initiative] is perfect, but we’ve made a start,” he adds. “We are going to see along the way how it’s going to evolve. Right now, the important thing is to stay open minded.”

Marco Bizzarri featured in talks at the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference 2019 in Cape Town with editor at Vogue International, Suzy Menkes, and in an interview with Vogue