As Grateful Dead fandom continues to become more culturally mainstream, the harbingers of the ’60s counterculture movement have teamed up with Italian luxury fashion house Gucci for a new collaborative line of clothing and accessories. Dubbed the “Custie” collection, the Grateful Dead x Gucci collab pushes “lot chic” ever deeper into mainstream fashion.
In line with the Dead’s recent collaborations with brands including Nike, Chinatown Market, Crocs, and the personhood of John Mayer, the band has opted to aim for high society with Gucci—rather than just high society.
Related: Lot Couture: How Grateful Dead Merch Became Mainstream Fashion
Included in the “Custie” collection will be a re-release of Augustus Owsley “Bear” Stanley III‘s iconic belt buckles. Formerly a priceless symbol of Dead-ication and a commitment to the group and its legacy, the new Gucci Bear belt buckles will now let everyone know that, rather than hunting down a rare piece of Dead memorabilia, you had $10,000 to spend on a belt buckle.
Since 2006, all licensing for the Grateful Dead, including merchandising and music releases, has been controlled by Rhino Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Under president Mark Pinkus, who attended his first Dead show in 1973, they work with various brands to increase bands’ exposure to a wider audience, especially younger generations, while using strict standards to maintain the authentic character of the band.
While Rhino gave Gucci creative director Alesandro Michele primary creative control when designing the new line, a panel made up of David Lemieux (the band’s archivist), Bernie Cahill (the band’s manager), and Pinkus himself judge whether the designs “ring true.” While longtime fans have bemoaned the recent GD luxury brand collabs on those same grounds, it is now impossible to overlook the Dead’s role as style pioneers when considering their legacy.
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As such, it seems the keepers of the Grateful Dead brand are undeterred by any cries of “selling out” from fans. When reached for comment on the Gucci x Grateful Dead line, unpaid 26-year-old Rhino intern Chad Sperry, who was involved in the line’s production, said, “Obviously we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think it reflected the spirit of the band. When we were putting it together, I kept thinking back to the consensus undisputed greatest Dead song of all time, 1974’s ‘Money, Money’. This Gucci deal will bring in so much money from rich fashionistas who just learned from a Vogue article that the hippie look is in this season. If that’s not honoring the Dead, I don’t know what is.”
April Fools!
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