Flora, one of the most
loved
icons, was born as a special commission for Princess Grace of Monaco in
1966. The
princess had paid a visit to the in Milan with Prince Ranier. Having bought a
green 'bamboo bag' Rodolfo Gucci insisted she selected a gift. When she
relented she asked for a scarf. Rodolfo was distressed: he felt lacked one special enough for his distinguished guest.
He immediately contacted the renowned illustrator Vittorio Accornero,
to design the most beautiful floral scarf he could create. The next day
Accornero returned with his painting: it was the 'Flora', a multicolored
flowered template that was destined for an unimaginably extended future.
Flora kindled such long-lasting affection among European women that they
passed it onto their daughters. One was Caroline of Monaco, who wore a
blouse in her 'mother's' scarf-print as a teenager; another, the much
younger Frida Giannini, whose own mother loved the print as a girl in
Rome. Re-connecting with that feeling, Giannini's revived Flora on printed
canvas bags for summer 2005, was met with overwhelming demand. Other Flora
variations, re-scaled, re-colored and abstracted, made it onto Forties/Seventies
inspired print dresses for summer 2006, into jewellery and on evening
. They were all hits: living proof of the power
of a Gucci icon 40 years after it was first imagined.