Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/193668
The name Pucci has long conjured a fairly specific vision—one of modish shapes, classic cuts, flowing maxis, brilliant colors and kaleidoscopic prints that twist elegantly through the delicate fibers of statement-making silk scarves, across the surfaces of structured bags and shoes and, of course, on and around the female form. It's a set of imagery that the brand's deputy chairman, Laudomia Pucci, refers to as DNA—its very own genetic code, first whipped up by her father, Emilio Pucci, in 1947, and carried on tactfully by the younger Pucci and creative director Peter Dundas today. It's this melding of classic and modern, past and present, vintage and new, that's enabled the brand's global growth over the last two decades— and dictated the personal style of the passionate woman at its helm. Pucci the elder was something of a post-war phenom: he embraced Italy's late '40s- and '50s-era ethos of creative reconstruction and, by the '60s, was nothing short of a household name. Initially, his daughter says, "he was just trying to build a better world for himself and the people around him after the war. If you look at the arts, if you look at the movies—"La Dolce Vita" and other Fellini films—if you look at the craftsmanship, it was an incredible time in those days. It was the joy of rebuilding and there was an energy coming out of all that." Pucci took the reins of the company in 1989 (three years prior to her father's death) and, in 2000, brokered a partial sale to LVMH that has only expanded the brand's international reach: just this year, Pucci debuted new boutiques in Miami, Rome and New Delhi, and Dundas' custom designs were featured in Beyoncé's "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour." All the while, Pucci herself has kept a sharp eye towards her father's legacy—and that of his singular prints. "We have seen many brands today reinventing themselves, even brilliantly," she says. "But for me, continuity is so important and it's not only important to me, it's important to the customer. When you travel to America, people tell you, 'Oh, my mother used to wear so much Pucci.' Or 'When my grandmother first met my grandfather, she was dressed in Pucci.' These stories are part of a history of fashion that's still very relevant. My job is making sure that is translated in a clever way." As such, one-of-a-kind prints still dominate Pucci shops as well as Laudomia Pucci's own environs. "I live with a lot of Pucci around me," she admits, referring to both her closet ("I always seem to have something on me that's Pucci, even if it's just shoes, a bag or a pair of eyewear") and her primary residence, Palazzo Pucci, the family's 14th-century Florentine villa. She defines her personal style as a blend of "femininity and modernity. And with modernity, I think it's proportions that we all try and make sure are working. I certainly think it's important that, whatever your age is, you're wearing your age at its very best." In art and design, Pucci's tastes veer towards that which is bright, modern and eclectic. Contrast, she says, is key too. She adores Brazilian phenoms like the Campana Brothers and the abstract painter Beatriz Milhazes; she loves seeing hulking contemporary sculptures situated on classically pastoral landscapes by the likes of Marc Quinn, Robert Indiana and Jeff Koons; and she fills her centuries-old home with sleek, modernist furnishings (favorites include Cappellini, with which Pucci has collaborated in the past), vibrant Pucci rugs and inherited, spindly-limbed tables by Diego Giacometti. She's also an avid collector of Pucci archives, some of which are installed in a gallery-like setting in the family's country home. She hopes to bring the entire archive out there eventually, work with students and create something "a little bit like a lab." "My father was an amazing colorist," she adds. "And he had an eye for proportional rhythm that I have rarely even imagined getting close to seeing again. I've really tried to take it in, to teach the teams. That, to me, is fundamental, like a language—and very, very important to carry on." 106 CULTURED 94 CULTURED The recently opened Pucci store in the Miami Design District