Gucci’s ‘Art of Silk’ project is a quietly radical proposition. At a glance, it may appear to be a series of silk scarves - but look closer, and what emerges is a body of work that challenges how we define luxury, how we wear it, and how art and fashion can speak to each other. This is silk, not as an accent or accessory, but as a medium of storytelling.
The Art of Silk project includes the 90x90 initiative which invited nine international artists - Robert Barry, Everett Glenn, Sara Leghissa, Currynew, Jonny Niesche, Gio Pastori, Walter Petrone, Yu Cai, and Inji Seo - to reinterpret House codes. There are 37 designs throughout the collection, with each artist designing multiple pieces across various themes: flora, fauna, nautical, equestrian and the GG monogram. Abstract compositions, graffiti-inspired flourishes and surrealist graphics take centre stage; the designs are layered and dynamic, echoing the energy of street culture and the depth of gallery walls.
Each scarf becomes a frame for visual language: part fashion, part fine art. The material - light and fluid - carries its fearless imagery with ease. But this isn’t about spectacle. It’s about dialogue. Between past and present, between craft and creativity, and between wearer and world. There is a deliberate refusal to be ornamental. These are pieces designed to provoke, to move, to shift perception.
Yu Cai’s dreamy Animalia scarf, for instance, transforms fauna in an otherworldly scene awash with pastel pinks and blues, whereas Everett Glenn’s interpretation features a playful cartoon atop a GG Monogram.
What’s striking is not just the aesthetic departure, but the ethos behind it. Art of Silk invites the wearer to engage - not just to style, but to interpret. Scarves become canvases, transformed into turbans, sarongs, wall hangings, even political statements. There’s a tactility to it all: a sense that the fabric, though delicate, is meant to be lived with, moved through, and challenged.
In this way, Gucci is proposing a new rhythm for fashion. One that resists disposability and trend-chasing in favour of lasting resonance. Art of Silk and the 90x90 initiative align with a broader movement across design and fashion that values craftsmanship, collaboration, and artistic integrity over seasonal novelty.
At a time when luxury is so often synonymous with status, Gucci’s project feels personal - even subversive. It suggests that beauty need not be restrained by tradition, and that creativity need not be limited to the gallery or catwalk. It offers, instead, a democratic form of expression: one that slips easily around the neck, over the head, or across the wall, but never blends into the background.
The Art of Silk project is a reminder that fashion can still surprise us. That it can be intellectually engaging, culturally responsive, and emotionally resonant - without sacrificing elegance. In rethinking one of its most classic formats, Gucci has opened up space for a new conversation around what it means to wear art. And perhaps more importantly, what it means to live with it.
Assouline is cementing this moment in history with the release of Gucci: The Art of Silk, a coffee-table book that traces the history and artistry behind Gucci’s silk scarves thanks to never-before-granted access to the Gucci archive. Explore the collection
