Have Gucci Will Travel

The valigeria travel selection encapsulates founder guccio Gucci's philosophy that his bags were no mere containers for garments, they were emblems of dreams and imagination - wanderlust encapsulated

- Jonathan Ho

DURING THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES, the expression the empire on which the sun never sets” was quite accurately applied to the British Empire. Indeed, maps of the empire, which typically showed British colonies in red, revealed that, whatever the time of day it was, it was daytime quite literally somewhere in the empire.

Suffice it to say, by 1889, London lay at the heart of the most extensive empire the world had ever seen; incidentally, it was also the year that the luxurious Savoy Hotel opened and the ornate Tower Bridge was under construction.

Considered the world’s largest port, and the heart of international finance and trade, it was without doubt, a global city of immense importance. If all roads led to Rome, every ship and every individual of importance was drawn to London, a nexus of travel and prestige. It was here, during the golden age of the steamship and the arrival of the industrial revolution leading to the nascent rise of cross country travel by railway, that Guccio Gucci found himself at the Savoy Hotel in 1899, 10 years after its doors opened.