Gucci serves up nostalgia and strategy in new courtside campaign
Gucci Tennis Shoe Credits: Gucci As anticipation builds around Demna’s first official move at Gucci following Balenciaga’s upcoming haute couture show in July, the Florentine fashion house is not standing idle. In a strategic volley of image-making and market positioning, Gucci has unveiled its latest campaign, “Gucci Tennis,” a sun-drenched homage to the sport’s 1970s heyday — and a calculated push into the lifestyle-meets-performance space where luxury brands are increasingly staking their claims. The campaign, lensed by Sam Rock and styled by Virginie Benarroch, captures the glamour of a tennis club at golden hour. But beneath the cinematic calm lies an assertive marketing play: a crisply curated collection of tennis whites, pleated skirts, and structured polo shirts, accessorised with aviator sunglasses and duffle bags in the house’s GG monogram. In aesthetic terms, it’s channeling retro sportif, filtered through Gucci’s ever-evolving lexicon. The iconic Web stripe — a motif nearly as recognisable as the sport’s own scoring system — runs through the collection, subtly linking heritage with reinvention. The women’s silhouettes flirt with tradition through knife-pleated skirts and minimal tailoring, while men’s offerings lean into 1970s nostalgia, with exaggerated collars and spare construction. "In the late 1970s Gucci became one of the first luxury fashion houses to merge the worlds of fashion and sport with the release of the Gucci Tennis 1977 sneaker. It would mark the beginning of a relationship that would bridge eras, as tennis became deeply rooted in the House’s heritage. Today, in a nod to the sport’s enduring appeal, the House reveals Gucci Tennis, a special release inspired by the game’s elegance and lifestyle. Influenced by classic tennis whites, the collection features the emblematic Web stripe across a series of ready-to-wear items, duffle bags and accessories." - says a statement on Gucci's website. Gucci’s tennis activation is more than an exercise in aesthetics. It reflects a growing strategic convergence between fashion and elite sports, where court-side visibility now offers brands a kind of social capital once reserved for catwalks. The maison joins a broader movement that includes Louis Vuitton’s tie-ups with athletes, Miu Miu’s flirtation with tenniswear, and Ralph Lauren’s long-standing presence at Wimbledon. The link between luxury and tennis has become fertile ground, not just for campaigns but for storytelling — and ultimately, for sales. Crucially, Gucci is laying groundwork while its creative leadership is in flux. Demna’s delayed arrival has left a stylistic vacuum that the brand seems keen to fill through tightly curated narratives and nostalgic cues. With the tennis capsule, Gucci signals it remains culturally alert and commercially agile, especially as Wimbledon takes place in London end of June. The message is clear: while the next act awaits its auteur, the show goes on.
As anticipation builds around Demna’s first official move at Gucci following Balenciaga’s upcoming haute couture show in July, the Florentine fashion house is not standing idle. In a strategic volley of image-making and market positioning, Gucci has unveiled its latest campaign, “Gucci Tennis,” a sun-drenched homage to the sport’s 1970s heyday — and a calculated push into the lifestyle-meets-performance space where luxury brands are increasingly staking their claims.
The campaign, lensed by Sam Rock and styled by Virginie Benarroch, captures the glamour of a tennis club at golden hour. But beneath the cinematic calm lies an assertive marketing play: a crisply curated collection of tennis whites, pleated skirts, and structured polo shirts, accessorised with aviator sunglasses and duffle bags in the house’s GG monogram.
In aesthetic terms, it’s channeling retro sportif, filtered through Gucci’s ever-evolving lexicon. The iconic Web stripe — a motif nearly as recognisable as the sport’s own scoring system — runs through the collection, subtly linking heritage with reinvention. The women’s silhouettes flirt with tradition through knife-pleated skirts and minimal tailoring, while men’s offerings lean into 1970s nostalgia, with exaggerated collars and spare construction.
"In the late 1970s Gucci became one of the first luxury fashion houses to merge the worlds of fashion and sport with the release of the Gucci Tennis 1977 sneaker. It would mark the beginning of a relationship that would bridge eras, as tennis became deeply rooted in the House’s heritage. Today, in a nod to the sport’s enduring appeal, the House reveals Gucci Tennis, a special release inspired by the game’s elegance and lifestyle. Influenced by classic tennis whites, the collection features the emblematic Web stripe across a series of ready-to-wear items, duffle bags and accessories." - says a statement on Gucci's website.
Gucci’s tennis activation is more than an exercise in aesthetics. It reflects a growing strategic convergence between fashion and elite sports, where court-side visibility now offers brands a kind of social capital once reserved for catwalks. The maison joins a broader movement that includes Louis Vuitton’s tie-ups with athletes, Miu Miu’s flirtation with tenniswear, and Ralph Lauren’s long-standing presence at Wimbledon. The link between luxury and tennis has become fertile ground, not just for campaigns but for storytelling — and ultimately, for sales.
Crucially, Gucci is laying groundwork while its creative leadership is in flux. Demna’s delayed arrival has left a stylistic vacuum that the brand seems keen to fill through tightly curated narratives and nostalgic cues. With the tennis capsule, Gucci signals it remains culturally alert and commercially agile, especially as Wimbledon takes place in London end of June. The message is clear: while the next act awaits its auteur, the show goes on.
