Having spent several years mining Pucci’s psychedelic, hippie-chic side, creative director Camille Miceli is now exploring lesser-known facets of the brand’s lore.
In 1967, Florentine founder Emilio Pucci did a collection inspired by Il Palio di Siena, a bareback horserace with roots in medieval times — and Miceli went mad for its bold prints, spanning animalia motifs, heraldic symbols, tessellations and irregular zigzags.
“It’s a completely different vibe. It’s much more graphic, but I was always very, very keen on the Il Palio prints,” she said.
So much so that Miceli and her team traveled to Siena to learn more about the Tuscan city’s historic wards, each with its own emblems and banners.
She applied all manner of bold prints to sexy pants, slinky knit dresses and clinging catsuits for her fall 2026 collection, keeping the disco beat going under the surface, but also branching out into quilted satin blousons, regal capes and nubby, fit-and-flare coats.
There was little that felt equestrian, though she winked to the vaguely medieval peplum tunics some Siena jockeys used to wear, fancying their resemblance to figure-skating costumes. A short, flaring dress with a bold print always looked dance-floor-ready.
“I want girls to come to Pucci to dress up for a night on the town,” Miceli said.
For that, the designer chose Bus Palladium, the Paris nightclub of her adolescence, as the location for the fall 2026 campaign, shot by Carlijn Jacobs and spotlighting model Grace Elizabeth grooving in shimmering gold Lurex jersey, by now a staple code of Miceli’s Pucci.
The designer said she’s not surprised the house founder was attracted to Il Palio, given its social swirl and associations with nobility. “Don’t forget, he was obsessed by the high society,” she said.
Miceli is also synonymous with glamorous living, along with helpings of fun and irreverence, expressed via bold jewelry, animal-shaped bag charms and the raciest jeans imaginable with their tiger-like prints and back pockets reminiscent of Google map pins.
Pucci Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear Campaign
Courtesy of Pucci
