Backstage With Gucci’s Alessandro Michele

Last summer, Alessandro Michele held Gucci’s 2017 cruise show at Westminster Abbey — the first fashion show ever held at the Gothic church. It was, above all, a nod to the label’s history: Though Guccio Gucci established the House of Gucci in his home city of Florence, his concept for the brand came from time spent in London.

As a teenager, while working as a lift boy in London’s Savoy Hotel, Guccio Gucci escorted guests to their rooms and found himself admiring their leather luggage. After returning to Italy, he decided to re-create the look in his own name, founding the company in 1921.

Nearly a century later, Michele’s 2017 cruise collection brought the label back to London as a Britain-inspired spectacle. Models wore designs inspired by both traditional and modern British fashion and walked to the ballad “Scarborough Fair.”

Gucci’s new limited-edition book Blind for Love, published by Assouline, features backstage photos from the 2017 show by British artist and photographer Nick Waplington. Click ahead to see Michele at work, models in initial fittings, and all the drama leading up to the final show.

Blind for Love is available now at assouline.com and Assouline boutiques around the world, as well as Dover Street Market in London, New York, and Tokyo, Colette in Paris, and other select book stores.