The enduring allure of Pucci: A print-fuelled takeover with staying power

The Star

03-08-2025

First came Hot Girl Summer. Then Sad Girl Autumn, Tomato Girl Summer and Short King Spring.
If the law of any vibe-defining term is that it must spawn its own aesthetic genealogy, it was only a matter of time before the designation of the season became clear.
As to what that may be… well, 'It's a Pucci girl summer,' one TikTok trend-watcher summed up.
'A Pucci girl summer,' another echoed.
'The Pucci woman is taking over my summer moodboard,' British Vogue stated.
The brand, founded by Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento in 1947 and known for its swirling, sunlight-on-the-Med prints and Cote D'Azur colours, is now located not just in the stable of the luxury group LVMH, but also in the resort of the mind.
It has captured both the imagination of the social media sphere, where buzz can act as a sort of mirage, and the retail moment.
'Pucci is currently our number one resort brand, with sales more than doubling year-on-year,' said Heather Kaminsky, the CEO of Net-a-Porter.
This is true among customers in the US and Europe, she said: 'Especially our frequently traveling EIPs' (extremely important people)."
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Pucci has captured both the imagination of the social media sphere, where buzz can act as a sort of mirage, and the retail moment. Photo: Instagram/Pucci A spokesperson for Mytheresa, which introduced a Pucci capsule collection in April, said 'basically everything is a bestseller'.
According to Katy Lubin, the vice president of brand and communications for Lyst, an e-commerce aggregator, searches for Pucci are up 81% year on year, and 96% quarter on quarter.
It's such a notable jump that, for the first time, Pucci will be included as one of the Moving Fast brands in Lyst's next hotness report.
Google Trends has interest in Pucci at a 20-year high in the US.
Sidney Toledano, who oversees the LVMH Fashion Group, which includes Pucci as well as Celine, Givenchy and Kenzo, said sales at the brand's stores had grown 50% to 60% over the past year.
It's 'amazing', he said with some surprise.
At a time when luxury in general is experiencing a widespread downturn, with sales falling almost across the board, Luca Solca, a luxury analyst at Bernstein, called Pucci 'a rare success story'.
Another way to think of it, however, is as a happiness story. Also as an escape story and an accessible fantasy, all rolled into a sarong or a pareo, halter-neck top, bucket hat or bikini.
Given the current political and social climate, who wouldn't want some of that, right about now?
'These aren't just outfits, they're summer declarations,' Kaminsky said.
The current Pucci revival can be traced back to the somewhat left-field appointment of Camille Miceli as artistic director in 2021.
Miceli was not a trained designer. She began her career as a de facto muse to Marc Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquiere, channeling a certain, very insouciant Frenchness before trying her hand at accessories for Dior and Louis Vuitton.
She was handed the top job at Pucci, Toledano said, as much for her 'energy' as her ability to reinvent a silhouette, her ability to make dancing on tables until dawn in high heels and no makeup seem like the most fabulous fun in the world.
That was the essence of Pucci, from the first ski suit Emilio Pucci designed for a girlfriend to his first shop in Capri, and it's what the clothes represent.
And yet the attitude had been out of fashion for a while.
Ever since LVMH bought Pucci in 2000, it had been trying to shoehorn the brand into its high fashion model, appointing a series of celebrated designers – Christian Lacroix, Matthew Williamson, Peter Dundas – to reinvent the aesthetic for the runway, all to no particular avail.
'People were saying maybe the problem was the print,' Toledano said. That the designs needed more black, more solids; that the market was saturated with all those stale swirls.
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Miceli had a different idea. The print was not the problem, she thought. The print was the solution.
The problem was Pucci pretending to be what it was not (directional, conceptual) and taking itself too seriously.
So she did away with all that, offering once-a-year destination shows off the fashion schedule (but just before Resort season) in glamorous beachy places.
They functioned less as fashion shows than as getaway weekends, complete with yoga classes, poolside soirees and see-now-buy-now clothes. Anyone feeling the urge could Puccify themselves pretty much immediately.
Rather than focusing on numerous store openings, she focused on pop-ups in places like Portofino and Saint-Tropez. And she enlisted ambassadors like Amelia Gray for ad campaigns that featured the model chomping on a cake made to look like a Pucci handbag.
People were laughing and crying 'inappropriate' in equal measure.
The result was, Lubin said, 'the ultimate lifestyle flex'.
All those Pucci prints are essentially a Rorschach test in which viewers see sunsets on the Croisette and yachts moored off the Amalfi coast – whether or not they are actually in any of those places or feel any sea breeze in their hair.
The prints, Lubin said, 'are totally recognisable to those who know, but still have some insider credibility'.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.