Gucci creative director Frida Giannini has designed a special, one-off collection called 8-8-2008 Limited Edition that features eight accessories, each cast in bold red and bearing its own exclusive athletic twist for the Summer Olympics in China. Eight is considered the luckiest number in Chinese culture, thus Giannini felt it was the perfect time to roll out the products given the August 8 start date of the Olympics.
"Not only does red evoke happiness and celebration, two emotions that couldn't be more appropriate to describe the excitement brought by the international sport games, but it also happens to be a very fashionable color for 2008," Giannini said.
Gucci 8-8-2008 includes new $1,415 I-Gucci watch, the company's first digital timepiece. Fashioned on a steel frame, the piece boasts a smooth black face and is also available in a clock hand version. The special Gucci Olympic collection logo, with interlocking G motif in place of the zeros in 2-0-0-8, is etched on the back.
All other Gucci Limited Edition items will be exclusive to Gucci boutiques in China, Hong Kong, and Macau starting this month. They include a $3,420 bicycle with bold red double GG leather details; a $3,150 Mahjong set covered in red La Pelle Guccissima leather, and, to pay homage to China, the country's iconic panda animal offered as a soft leather teddy bear for $1,050.
Rounding out the collection are a pair of $660 men's and women's sports shoes featuring a patchwork of suede, patent leather, and gold trim, a $445 sterling silver and enamel necklace inspired by military tags, and two pieces of luggage in La Pelle Guccissima--a sturdy leather duffle for $2,795 and a $995 soft leather messenger bag with Gucci's iconic green-and-red web on the shoulder strap.
