Courtesy of GucciFashion / LightboxExploring Gucci’s hidden inspirationsFrom street art to pieces from its own archives, the house reveals the inspiration behind its SS16 collectionShareLink copied ✔️March 17, 2016FashionLightboxTextTed Stansfield#GucciGarden Under Alessandro Michele’s inspired leadership, the house of Gucci has been transformed. Its shows have become some of Milan Fashion Week’s most vibrant, offering up a kaleidoscope of colours, prints and motifs season after season. For its SS16 collection, Michele took inspiration from a variety of different places; including antique maps, street art and Gucci’s own archives. “...Each object in the collection is offered up as a small atlas of emotions, a treasure chest of aesthetic references, a sentimental cartography in which patterns, extraordinary craftsmanship, and rarefied materials are interwoven,” read the show notes. The same was true for the men’s SS16 collection – a crochet shirt, for example, bore a butterfly motif inspired by a painting that Michele saw on the streets of Rome. Here, to coincide with the launch of Gucci’s new website, the house gives us an insight into this “treasure chest” of references with images of their prints, animal motifs and the inspiration behind them. Head to the gallery above to see these images. A crochet shirt from the men’s SS16 collectionCourtesy of GucciCaptured by Alessandro Michele on his Instagram account, an artwork in the streets of RomeArtwork by Martin Whatson, Outdoor Festival 2015, Rome/Photography Alberto Blasetti/Courtesy of Gucci www.gucci.com Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREOoh Be Gah! Your fave Coach fits just landed in The Sims 4Golden Globes 2026: A best dressed blackout for Hollywood’s biggest starsDemna drops his first Gucci campaign, plus more fashion news you missedBella Hadid resurrects Saint Laurent’s iconic 00s It-bagThe coolest girls you know are still wearing vintage to the gymYour AW26 menswear and Haute Couture cheat sheet is hereJeremy Allen White and Pusha T hit the road in new Louis Vuitton campaignNasty with a Pucci outfit: Which historical baddie had the nastiest Pucci?Inside the addictive world of livestream fashion auctionsCamgirls and ‘neo-sluts’: Feral fashion on the global dancefloorBrigitte Bardot: Remembering the late icon’s everlasting styleA look back on 2025 in Dazed fashion editorials