The Iconic 2000s Gucci Union Jack Sloaney: A London Bag for a London Boutique

Some bags belong to a season; others belong to a place. This Gucci Boston bag, printed with the Union Jack and a crown over the house's blue monogram, was made in 2009 as a limited edition for one shop: the Gucci flagship on Sloane Street, in London. It is a Florentine object made to speak with a London accent.

Sloane Street, 2009

Sloane Street runs from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square and has long been one of London's main addresses for luxury retail. Gucci's boutique there was refurbished at the request of Frida Giannini, then the house's creative director. According to an account published by Sotheby's International Realty, the work was commissioned in 2008 and the new store was unveiled in March 2009, with an event attended by figures from British fashion.

To mark the reopening, Giannini designed a small group of London pieces. Contemporary reports in Luxuo and Marie Claire describe a limited "Sloane" collection inspired by the area's style, built on the Union Jack and on shades of royal blue. The Boston bag, known as the "Sloaney", became its best-known piece, helped by photographs of Kate Moss carrying it soon after its launch.

Frida Giannini

Giannini, born in Rome in 1972, joined Gucci in 2002 as handbag design director, after five years at Fendi. After Tom Ford's departure her responsibilities grew, and by 2006 she was creative director of the whole house, a role she held until her departure was announced in 2014. Her Gucci looked back to the house's archive, to its floral prints, its equestrian motifs and its monogram, and reworked them in brighter colours.

The Sloaney bag shows that approach clearly. The ground is the GG monogram canvas, one of the oldest codes of the house, printed in blue rather than the familiar beige and brown. Over it sits the flag and a crown, a direct reference to London. Gucci's own history began with London: its founder, Guccio Gucci, had worked as a young man at the Savoy Hotel before returning to Florence, where he opened his business in 1921.

The object

The Archivary describes the bag as a London exclusive, limited-edition Union Jack Sloaney from 2009, with the flag and crown printed over a blue Gucci monogram. It has double handles in blue leather, a top zip closure, silver-tone hardware and an interior pocket, and was made in Italy. It measures 35 by 19 by 35 centimetres including the handles.

The bag is recorded as new and unworn, and it comes with its own dust bag. For a piece designed to be carried, that condition is unusual, and it allows the printed canvas, the leather and the hardware to be seen as they left the boutique.

A souvenir of a moment

Limited editions made for a single shop are a particular kind of fashion object. They mark an opening or an anniversary, are sold in small numbers and are rarely repeated. Their value as evidence lies in that specificity: this bag records a particular boutique, a particular designer and a particular spring in London.