Gucci's immersive garden of enchanting scenes arrives in Korea

Installation view of the recreated set of Gucci's SS 2016 Rebellious Romantics campaign / Courtesy of Gucci

By Park Han-sol

Muffled club music echoes throughout a bathroom decked out in bright pink tiles and red lacquered stalls. Dressed just as flamboyantly as the room itself, young couples seem to get ready for another wild ride through a night filled with booze, romance and the spirit of defiance.

This room offering a forbidden glimpse into a hedonistic scene of nightlife in Berlin is one of a dozen immersive sets brought to the audience at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul this month by the Italian luxury brand Gucci.

Titled "Gucci Garden Archetypes," the multimedia exhibition recreates the brand's visually spectacular advertising campaigns with daring concepts envisioned by Alessandro Michele in his nearly seven years as the fashion house's creative director. Seoul became the sixth stop for this traveling wonderland, following its showcase in Florence before moving on to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

It is a kaleidoscopic journey to Michele's vision that has merged Gucci's fashion with entertainment, art and music ― spanning from the intergalactic exploration of alien life forms inspired by classic sci-fi films, to the zestful celebration of the 1960s British music subculture, Northern Soul.

Installation view of the recreated set of the SS 2018 Gucci Hallucinations campaign / Courtesy of Gucci

Whether it be a mirrored maze recreating a romantic dance party that took place in a 16th-century Italian mansion or a fantastical mural that combines Renaissance imagery with the surreal world of pop culture, the exhibition never fails to wow viewers with its sensory glitz.

Installation view of the recreated set of the FW 2018 Gucci Collectors campaign / Courtesy of Gucci

One room even visualizes the unimaginable obsession that becomes a driving force in life for some eccentric collectors, through an assortment of items filling the entirety of its mirrored walls and display cases: 182 vintage cuckoo clocks, 1,354 mounted butterflies, 200 Gucci Marmont bags and hundreds of stuffed toys.

Installation view of the room, "Gucci Bloom" / Courtesy of Gucci

But there are also spaces that offer a more contemplative moment. In "Gucci Bloom," viewers can take a walk through a secret, imaginary garden swathed in the floral scents of jasmine, tuberose and Rangoon creeper, which was launched as Michele's first female fragrance in 2017.

One of the highlights of Seoul's exhibition is a hallway wallpapered with street graffiti in homage to the student uprisings of May 1968 in Paris. Many slogans, songs and artworks critiquing neocolonialism and consumerism that emerged from this period became cultural touchstones.

Such graffiti works and slogans put forth by young Parisian protesters have been reborn in Korea through the hands of the local artist, BFMIN, including a cheeky transformation of "rebelle" (meaning "rebel" in French) into "belle" ("beautiful").

"Gucci Garden Archetypes" runs through March 27 at the DDP.

Installation view of the recreated set of Gucci's Pre-fall 2018 Dans Les Rues campaign / Courtesy of Gucci

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