28 April 2025 |
Image courtesy of Pucci
Ask any Austinite about the Austin Motel’s iconic red marquee, and they’ll tell you it’s more than just a sign announcing vacancies—it’s a message board. On Thursday evening, its glowing letters announced Sweet Dreams are Made of Prints, as passersby on South Congress Avenue stopped to take in the kaleidoscopic patterns worn by guests fêting the launch of Pucci’s capsule collection with e-tailer Mytheresa.
“The first time I stepped foot in America, it was here in Austin,” says Camille Miceli, the artistic director of Pucci, who at 18 spent a month in the Texas capital visiting a boyfriend who was studying at the university.
Now, decades later, Miceli is fresh off presenting Pucci’s Spring 2025 collection in Portofino and back where her journey in the states began, this time celebrating alongside Mytheresa with two-stepping, custom westernwear, and Pucci Palomas.
Part poolside cocktail, part honky tonk, party guests including Meadow Walker, Julez Smith, and Kelela snapped photos outside the motel in a show-stopping 1960s Cadillac DeVille convertible, whose powder blue paint job matched the capsule’s soft blues, creams, and lilacs. “I thought we had to do something quite soft,” says Miceli about the collection. “We need softness at this moment.” What a good party also needs is music—and the evening delivered. Local musicians Libby and the Loveless played an all-country set, while dancers pulled guests in for impromptu two-stepping lessons. As the sun set, DJ Disco Bambino took over the decks.
Those who left their cowboy hats at home were in luck, thanks to a build-your-own hat station. Guests were measured and fitted with their own ten-gallon—complete with a silk Pucci scarf, of course—which they then customized with pins. It was Italian elegance meets Texas flair—colorful Pucci prints on bandana tops, slinky dresses, and resort-ready separates mingled with denim, cowboy boots, and big hair.
“To wear Pucci means you dare,” says Miceli. “You want to be noticed, you want to be seen, and why not?”
from left: Alton Mason, Austin Motel, Carlin Russo, Hannah Chody, Julie Flood Reiff, India Moore, Alton Mason, Camille Miceli, Kelley, Meadow Walker. Image courtesy of Pucci.
