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Gucci isn’t necessarily easy to love. The Italian brand’s new look — think Italian Renaissance masters reinterpreting modern-day pop culture — shepherded in by designer Alessandro Michele is embroidered with flowers, snakes, butterflies, and even Donald Duck. And even if one has the swagger to pull these items off, the price points (the uber-popular denim jacket will run you $6,000, for example) make getting in on one of the hottest brands of the moment incredibly difficult.
But finally, entry-level Gucci is here in the form of a T-shirt and hoodie that celebrities like Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Years and Years lead singer Olly Alexander, and the label’s designer have been wearing for months. The classic logo pieces released last week and are the easiest items to buy and wear for those who are interested in Michele’s fantasy but don’t want to go completely down the rabbit hole. They’re not cheap, just relatively so: $420 (nice) for a T-shirt and $1,200 for a hoodie.
Gucci is incredibly smart to cash in on the returning prominence of logos and a rising interest in men’s vintage — sites like The RealReal report the category has doubled for them in the past year alone. The basic items on sale now take the Italian luxury house’s funky vintage look and make it more approachable.
Surprisingly, even with all the winds blowing in the right direction, demand for vintage Gucci T-shirts isn’t up at vintage clothing shops like Beacon’s Closet, according to its founder and president Carrie Peterson.
However, Peterson sees the allure of classic items like this done by Gucci and says similar items would “sell in half a heartbeat… A tee like this can embody the idea of luxury, while still being super casual,” Peterson concurs. But she also notes this can only really work because it’s a storied brand like Gucci. “These brands are sort of the godparents of modern fashion and will always carry an authenticity that current designers can only strive to realize during their careers,” she explains.
The magic of the Gucci tee, Peterson explains, is the facade of vintage that the tee’s crackled logo and brand’s history conjures. “It's a T-shirt, but then you throw the Gucci logo on it, and you've got something fake fancy, or maybe even actually fancy,” she says. And doesn’t that just really sum up all of Gucci’s new look?
So if you’re a person concerned with (a) passing inconspicuously through the crowds, (b) your checking account, or (c) both, this tee and hoodie are the most passive and inexpensive ways to get in on one of 2016’s most beloved brands