For his first runway outing at Gucci, designer Demna turned deliberately toward the house’s past—particularly the audacious glamour of Tom Ford’s Gucci from the late 1980s and 1990s. The result is a collection steeped in archival memory, where the body becomes both silhouette and statement.
The menswear finds its strongest footing. The clothes cling close to the form—thin jeans tapering over narrow legs, metallic shirts, and glittering surfaces catching the light with unapologetic bravado. On athletic physiques, the pieces project sculpted masculinity; on waifish models, the same garments take on a different tone—luxurious, playful, and faintly dangerous. Silver, gold, and sequins shimmer against lean frames, creating a tension between glamour and rawness.
Across the collection the materials tell a clear story: metallic textiles, sequined surfaces, lacquered finishes, and tight tailoring recall the high-voltage glamour that defined Gucci under Tom Ford. Yet the references remain firmly anchored in that past. The silhouettes—tight jeans, bare midriffs, glossy surfaces—speak fluently in the language of the late twentieth century.
The women’s looks pursue a similar vocabulary, though with less restraint. Shiny fabrics, low-rise silhouettes, lace, and midriff-baring tops dominate the runway. The collection favors body-hugging shapes that reference the era of excess Demna cites as inspiration—yet the effect often feels more nostalgic than new.
Among the more intriguing gestures are the mink accents woven throughout the women’s looks. One particularly striking idea—a mink tube worn across the chest—suggests a curious hybrid of outerwear and jewelry, simultaneously opulent and provocative.
In a curious closing moment, Kate Moss appeared on the runway in an open-back dress. Her presence carried the weight of fashion history, though the styling—slightly undone hair and softened makeup—muted the slink and ease that once defined her signature walk. The moment felt less like a crescendo and more like a distant echo.
Demna’s debut for Gucci is unmistakably confident, steeped in archive and memory. Whether that nostalgia evolves into something more forward-looking remains the question that will follow this first chapter. Gucci.
