If Versace is power and spectacle, Gucci is reinvention. Few luxury houses have experienced as many radical transformations as Gucci and survived each one stronger. The Beginning: Guccio Gucci (1921) Founded in 1921 in Florence by Guccio Gucci, the brand began as a leather goods and luggage company inspired by British aristocratic style he observed while working at the Savoy Hotel in London. Gucci introduced: Fine leather travel goods Equestrian-inspired motifs The Horsebit