Gucci Relies On Its Equestrian Heritage With New Horsebit Bag Update On 70th Anniversary

If you’re looking at equestrian chic, you cannot go wrong with the Gucci Horsebit. Harking back to its equestrian heritage, Gucci has returned strong with a new emphasis on the bag in its latest Spring/Summer collection.

Unveiled on the Fall Winter 2025 runway, the newest Gucci handbag expands the language of the Horsebit—a signature House code that continues to evolve, shaping its narrative. The bag has been given a new silhouette, which reinterprets the structured elegance of the Horsebit 1955 bag. The refined silhouette is anchored by the iconic Horsebit hardware, which is seamlessly integrated into its form. It has an ultra-soft texture, offering a more fluid and tactile expression than before, in keeping with the bohemian and relaxed aesthetic of contemporary time.

Its soft, contoured form merges classic elements with a redefined balance, creating a bag that looks inviting to the touch and is visually striking. A testament to the House’s craftsmanship, the bag embodies a harmonious contrast—full-bodied yet soft, structured yet yielding. Designed to be an everyday bag if required, it offers a contemporary perspective on the enduring Gucci emblem.

Horsebit-heritage

As one of the House’s signature bags, the Gucci Horsebit 1955 is a popular model through eras of history, and has enjoyed attention at different points of time. For instance, in the 2000s it was a staple in Hollywood with celebrity patrons such as Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian to Blake Lively and Miley Cyrus taking to the Gucci Horsebit Hobo. It was recently spotted in the show The White Lotus where Parker Posey, who plays billionaire Timothy’s wife, carrying the Gucci Bamboo Bag. The show’s costume designer also revealed on her Instagram how Gucci will be a major part of some of the looks on Season 3.

Coming back to what makes The Horsebit bag iconic in particular, its sturdiness comes from the fine quality leather and other top-grade hardware  and craftsmanship that it is known for, as well as the mythmaking that has always distinguished the House.

Notes from the collection

A distinctive sense of effortless style, an element of Italian ‘sprezzatura’ – the perfectly imperfect, a studied effortlessness – a way of living and dressing that has been integral to Gucci’s aesthetic from the beginning, is a mainstay of the latest collection and its presentation.

Walking along the entwined dark green Interlocking G of the catwalk – standing for the founder, Guccio Gucci, the emblem celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year – the duality of men’s and women’s shows on the ramp came together as a whole. Like a double helix, yin and yang, each completed the other. Men’s tailoring fabrics made up the entirety of the collection, juxtaposed into women’s fashion to bring together both in sharp contrast. Sharpness and delineation are embraced in suiting, yet at times in sharp relief against a flash of flesh, a shock of color, or the subversion of crepe de chine.

Slubbed tweeds, a classic British men’s tailoring motif, are used in the patterns found in crepe shirting and blouses. A dialogue of hard and soft continues in brushed mohair shirting, mother-of-pearl leathers, coated wools and bonded boucles.

Fabric experimentation is the foundation of the collection, embracing classicism and subversion.

The Gucci Horsebit 1955

Yet, in the amalgam of the several Gucci eras from mid-1990s minimalism to the more recent ultra-maximal, Gucci motifs unite to make something new. Unifying all is the Horsebit, perhaps the most recognizable of all Gucci motifs on its 70th anniversary of the Horsebit 1955 bag. Horsebit signifiers abound, from oversized to tiny, a pop readymade appearing in jewelry, like in the flash of waist chain of a deep scooped back dress or most often on leather goods. From the classic Horsebit 1955 bag transformed through new, ultra-soft construction via the giant Horsebit handle of the new slouched shoulder bag to the precise, ultra-luxe construction of the new Gucci Siena, fastening with a half Horsebit click. At its most comfortable, the motif is at home on slippers.

The Gucci Horsebit 1955 is one of the most significant products that the House has come up with to represent the House symbol – the double ring and bar that was presented in 1955, two years after the original hardware appeared in the House’s collections on a pair of loafers, becoming an iconic Gucci symbol, linking it to the equestrian world. The latest collection furthers that narrative, and presents it in a more contemporary silhouette, finishing it with the emblematic detail that harnesses Gucci’s heritage.

The loafer, launched in 1955, Gucci has been re-launching its Horsebit collections in different categories. Last year, its Horsebit fine jewellery with gold necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings was well received. The collection is crafted in yellow and rose gold with white diamonds. The yellow gold range includes three necklaces with a statement Horsebit pendant as well as one in a Y-shaped or lariat style, characterised by a loop and a linear drop.

In rose gold, you can choose between a ring with the signature icon, or a delicate chain, as well as earrings with the symbol.

The Fall/Winter 2025 collection overall is a throwback to the past glory of the brand, giving the brand a new creative direction, on the heels of the departure of their creative director Sabato de Sarno, who parted ways with the brand just two weeks before their runway show announcing the Fall/Winter collection after being the creative head for the last two years. Gucci has been suffering revenue losses in the past quarters, with fiscal revenue falling 12 per cent and wholesale dropping more than 20 per cent in 2024, according to the luxury group Kering’s announcement a few days ago, under which Gucci falls. There has been no update on a new designer so far, as all eyes are on the brand for their big announcement, to determine the new direction Gucci is poised to take.