NOT SO MERRY: “With the Gucci tree with which we’re decorating the Galleria, we want to spread a message of joy and beauty with all of you and the entire city of Milan,” was the message from Gucci president and chief executive officer Jean-François Palus during the lighting ceremony of the tree in December.
That Yuletide spirit was lost on a group of activists called “Ultima Generazione [Last Generation],” who on Friday threw buckets of orange paint on Gucci’s Christmas tree in Milan’s luxury shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
A video posted online by Italy’s daily Corriere della Sera shows onlookers heckling, demanding the activists to stop, until the arrival of the police.
The newspaper stated that a note was issued by the climate activists, allegedly promoting the “Fondo Riparazione” campaign, asking the government to issue a fund of 20 billion euros to repair the damage caused by the climate changes “that are destroying our lives.”
They targeted Gucci, stated the daily, reporting their note, in protest against “a company with sales of 10 billion euros per year that donates 1 million euros in charity [initiatives] and at the same time continues to fuel a system of luxury and consumerism that is decreeing our death sentence. The Gucci tree is not only extensively criticized, but is a symbol of a lifestyle that is totally unsustainable,” and “scandalous in light of the economic gap in Italy.”
The group urged the city of Milan to dedicate the location in the Galleria to “social or educational initiatives” for the country rather than granting it to an international luxury group that “this way fuels the empty dream of consumerism.”
Succeeding Swarovski — which had sponsored the Christmas tree for the city since 2013 — the Kering-owned fashion house opted for an installation made up of 78 gift boxes sealed with Gucci’s signature Horsebit buckle and coming in white and silver shades and topped with the brand’s logo.
At the time, Gucci said some of the materials that make up the gift boxes would be donated to ForMattArt, a cultural association for social advancement that promotes activities geared toward social solidarity and education.
Gucci’s sponsorship of Milan’s Christmas tree is part of an expansive project aimed at promoting beauty and enhancing semi-peripheral areas of the city. For example, in collaboration with ForMattArt, the brand pledged to light up parts of the Corvetto neighborhood — in Milan’s southern area — and embellish the entrances to three of the main schools in the district, in an initiative unveiled on the occasion of World Children’s Day on Nov. 20. Children were also involved in artistic workshops to create decorations for their schools around the topic of children’s and adolescents’ rights.
