Gift Spotlight: Gucci's Holly & Ivy or The New Christmas Sweater

Here at The Shophound, we like to point out the increasing number of occasions when Fashion and Charity meet, hence our many posts about Marc Jacobs and (PRODUCT)RED. And this brings us to Gucci's special Holiday collection designed to benefit UNICEF.
Gucci creative director Frida Giannini has taken some of the firms most popular handbag shapes and rendered them in a special holiday print with green leather trim just for the Christmas season.
And here's where we get to our problem. We thought, like most people, that Gucci was faring pretty well without Tom Ford. Giannini seemed to be guiding it on a course with a nod to Ford's contributions while developing her own signatures and still staying true to the brand.
And then we saw this in the window on Fifth Avenue: A bag that fairly screams "Tom Ford has left the building and is never, ever coming back!"

We hate to knock such good intentions, and we don't want to begrudge UNICEF any well deserved proceeds, but these bags are kind of a luxe handbag version of something we refer to as the Dreaded Christmas Sweater. It is a garment so aggressively cheery and seasonal that it seems to border on the psychotic. It is usually paired with snowflake or reindeer earrings, occasionally with a Santa hat, and in the most severe cases, outfitted with flashing L.E.D. trim. It is particularly popular among the sort of people who actually believe that there is a "War on Christmas" and wear it as their own way of fighting back. (A shocking gallery can be found here at SweatpantsErection.com. Yes, that's really what it's called.) What can we say? We feel strongly that decorations should remain on walls.
How you feel about these bags really depends on how you feel about Christmas Sweaters. If you love them, then by all means, run, don't walk to Gucci and drop between  $1,150 and $2,600 on a printed velvet and leather handbag. If, however you feel as The Shophound does about them (and by that we mean not warmly) then send a check directly to UNICEF.

Comments

[Rex]

Its a good intention by Gucci, but the bags are a little tacky.