Arab News Japan

DUBAI: Italian fashion brand, Gucci joins nishijin silk company Hosoo, Japan’s oldest nishijin silk textile company, to create high quality and limited-edition luxury products available for purchase on Dec 1.

Nishijin silk textile is a fabric made of woven dyed silk that goes through a 20-step process to finally reach the rough durable material that is used to make high quality luxury products.

This specific type of silk dates to the Heian period in Japan, a period when nishijin silk textile was associated with nobility and was worn by the warrior class and the wealthy.

Gucci has teamed up with Hosoo to create very limited-edition handbags using Japanese traditional techniques and Gucci’s Italian artisans.

The collaboration resulted in three new three-dimensional textiles, that are used to make two extremely limited-edition Gucci bags; the Gucci bamboo 1947 and the Gucci Diana.

The Gucci bamboo 1947 is a contemporary reinterpretation of Gucci’s bamboo handle handbags, which has a little history behind it; after the second world war materials were scarce so an alternative had to be found to keep manufacturing going.

Gucci’s founder, Guccio Gucci, came up with the idea of using light but strong bamboo for the handles of the bags; the bamboo bags became widely favoured and were known as iconic fashion pieces around the world.

The Gucci Diana is a part of a line of bags that reimagine the bamboo-handled tote bags released in 1991.

The signature addition to this new line is the leather belt that is wrapped around the handles to maintain the shape of the bag.

This collaboration also indicates the strong bonds between the Italian brand and the Japanese city Kyoto, which held many previous Gucci special events and exhibitions.