Italian fashion house Gucci is standing with the global community to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by making two donations to crowdfunding campaigns.

Locally, Gucci will donate €1 million to the Italian Civil Protection Department in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo. Globally, Gucci will donate another €1 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization, through a matching campaign with Facebook.  

The initiative follows donations from Kering, Gucci’s parent company, in China, Italy and France and the production of over 1 million masks and gowns for healthcare personnel.

“This pandemic calls us to an unexpected task, but it is a call to which we respond decisively, advocating the selfless work carried out by health workers, doctors and nurses on the front lines every day in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, in Italy and in the rest of the world. Their generosity and courage light our way forward in these difficult days. By supporting each other and helping those who are most vulnerable among us, we will be able to overcome this crisis: united, even more than before,” wrote Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, and Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci in a letter announcing the initiative to the company’s employees around the world.

In Gucci’s home country of Italy, which has been particularly affected by the crisis, €1 million will be donated to the valiant efforts of the National Civil Protection Department through Intesa Sanpaolo’s ForFunding crowd-funding platform.  A dedicated webpage gucci.forfunding.it will allow the #GucciCommunity to make donations too. The funds will be allocated by the Italian National Civil Protection Department, to reinforce Italy’s health services and organizations managing the emergency, with the creation of new ICU beds as a priority.

Internationally, Gucci will contribute €1 million to the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization (WHO) through a Facebook US$10 million matching fundraiser. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund’s aim is to support WHO’s lifesaving work across countries, including to help track and understand the spread of the virus, to strengthen patient care and ICUs, to improve supplies for health personnel, including of protection devices, and to accelerate the development of vaccines and therapies.

The #GucciCommunity will be able to donate to the fund through a donate feature that will be hosted on Gucci’s Instagram stories. 

The house’s other social media channels and gucci.com will also feature links to donate to both of the initiatives. At the same time, Gucci will put its social media accounts, with over 70 million followers, at the disposal of the World Health Organization to help amplify official public service information to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of the community.

Find out how other fashion houses are helping fight COVID-19 right here. 

According to experts sunscreens, glittery trends from cult TV shows and natural-looking skin will do all the talking in your beauty cabinet in 2020. Here are the three big trends that are shaking up the make-up world right now.

Barely There Beauty
Beauty bloggers have dominated the last decade with their extraordinary high-arched brows; contoured cheekbones and jaws; and head-turning make-up that the average make-up enthusiast just doesn’t have the time to even try to recreate. “For the past few years, make-up trends have been all about Instagram make-up – full coverage and big bold eye make-up,” says Alphie Sadsad, the national artistry lead for Sephora Australia and New Zealand. This year, however, could just be the year we see a wholehearted embrace of a much more pared-back, natural approach to beauty – think a slick of lip gloss, luminous skin, brows that frame the face and a good lashing or two of mascara. “Heading into 2020 we are seeing – especially on the red carpet – the big shift towards more effortless, natural beauty with a focus on the eyes and clean skin,” he explains. “This year will see the continuation of the ‘no-make-up make-up’ look: less coverage, accentuating clean, beautiful skin,” he says. “We want the skin to shine through and do the talking.”

First Base
While it’s handy being able to reach for the perfect concealer to quickly cover up a pesky blemish that’s appeared out of nowhere, more of us are investing in skincare to help us achieve the perfect complexion. Total figures for 2019 are yet to come, but in 2018 the sales of prestige skincare products in the US grew by 13 per cent, according to the NPD Group. Make-up sales, on the other hand, only increased by one per cent. Sadsad says he’s seen a noticeable shift in the way that Sephora clients approach beauty and their skincare regimens. “Skin health is still a major topic in the beauty world,” he says. He adds that sun safety has become a particular focus for many customers. “Our Sephora clients have started to move from covering with heavy make-up and tanning in the sun to taking better care of their skin, consciously thinking about sun safety more than ever,” Sadsad says that encouraging consumers not to be afraid of sunscreen and to combine protective sunscreen with skincare will be a big focus for 2020.

The Euphoria Effect

For those make-up lovers looking for something a little more playful as far as beauty is concerned, HBO’s coming-of-age hit series, Euphoria will continue to inspire beauty trends in 2020. The influence of the series on the beauty world became apparent when a handful of designers sent models down the spring/summer 2020 runway with graphic eyeliner and high-shine, glittery beauty looks. “The TV series Euphoria has had a huge impact on industry trends across all generations, especially generation Z,” says Sadsad. “This year’s make-up is bound to be shiner and sparklier than ever, as evidenced by the past year’s trends.” As a result we’ll see eye make-up formulas that are “all about the metallic, shimmer, glitter and foil”, says Sadsad. “We will be seeing more techniques and trends on applying glitter, crystals, shimmer and metallic on clean skin.” Meanwhile, YSL is launching its latest addition to the Rouge VoluptĂ© collection – Rock’n Shine: a sparkling lip colour that uses eco-friendly glitter made from plant matter.