Gucci loafer we still adore 70 years on

• The leather flats have been worn by everyone from Jackie O to Kendall Jenner
• READ MORE:  The queen of French fashion who once banned Bowie from wearing brown… And is still CEO of a hit global brand aged 81!

Classic as a Chanel 2.55 quilted handbag, and as recognisable as a Louis Vuitton travel trunk, the Gucci Horsebit loafer may eclipse both when it comes to fashion ‘status’.

For 70 years, Gucci’s leather flats have been worn by everyone from Jackie O to Kendall Jenner — and are the original ‘It’ shoe.

In the 1960s the loafers were sported by Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot; in the 1970s they found favour with Hollywood favourites such as Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola, as well as then CIA Director George H. W. Bush.

In the 1980s and 1990s, they were known as the ‘deal sled’ on Wall Street, where the classic black version was as ubiquitous as the pinstripe suit. 

Today, fans include Sienna Miller, Brad Pitt and Katie Holmes. And Normal People star Paul Mescal is fronting the brand’s new campaign to mark the slip-on’s 70th anniversary.

Sienna Miller looks stylish in red Gucci Horsebit loafers paired with cropped jeans and a loose shirt 

Audrey Hepburn wore black Gucci Horsebit loafers in the 1957 musical romance Funny Face

Loafers have been in vogue for a few seasons now. But to stay relevant for 70 years? That’s no mean feat.

The secret may lie in their unique appeal, being simultaneously casual and smart, genderless and flattering. Eschewing the in-your-face branding of competitors, they look as pitch perfect with an evening dress as with jeans and a loose shirt.

Aldo Gucci, son of brand founder Guccio Gucci, created the Horsebit loafer in 1953. He based the style on penny loafers that he had noticed were popular with preppy Americans. 

It was an astute observation, coinciding as it did with Gucci’s plans to expand to the U.S. And when the Italian luxury leather goods firm opened its first store on New York’s 5th Avenue, it brought over the Horsebit loafer.

The shoe, launched first for men, then for women, was an instant hit — in part due to the jet set, who famously travelled to the Gucci flagship shop on Via Condotti in Rome to buy its bags and luggage.

But it also offered something completely new. here was a black leather shoe that elegantly toed the line between dressy and casual. 

Up until then black leather shoes were seen as formal wear, worn to the office or for evenings out, while the penny loafers Aldo had spied on young Americans were mostly brown. Gucci’s straddled the best of both.

What’s more, Gucci’s loafer was sleeker, with a longer, deeply flattering almond-shaped toe, and came with the crucial addition of a gold-plated horsebit — a nod to Gucci’s roots as a maker of top-end saddles and riding boots. The shoe was at once luxury and low-key. In short, it was revolutionary.

The shoe, launched first for men, then for women, was an instant hit – in part due to the jet set, who famously travelled to the Gucci flagship shop on Via Condotti in Rome to buy its bags and luggage

Leonardo DiCaprio wore a black leather pair in almost every scene of The Wolf Of Wall Street

Since then the Horsebit loafer has had numerous incarnations: fur-lined, backless, chunky-soled and in numerous colours, with prices starting at £675. But in all forms it is a celebrity staple.

Some of cinema’s most iconic characters have worn them: Fight Club’s Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) wore chestnut brown ones; Leonardo DiCaprio wore the black leather pair in almost every scene of The Wolf Of Wall Street.

Off-duty stars such as Jennifer Aniston and Gigi Hadid team theirs with cropped jeans (ankle length is perfect to showcase the Horsebit’s elegant shape). 

Starlets such as Hailey Bieber, who has them in fur-lined pink and the classic black, show their fashion smarts by wearing them with white socks.

As designer Sabato de Sarno takes over as creative director of Gucci, things will almost certainly change. The brand will need to reinvent itself from the maximalist fun house it became under Alessandro Michele. 

But if the new campaign is anything to go by, it’s clear de Sarno understands at least one thing: that the secret to the brand’s future lies in one of its oldest heroes.

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