Reporting on Demna Gvasalia’s debut for Gucci makes it impossible to not abandon my journalistic objectivity. I LOVE Demna. I LOVE Gucci. Since this pairing was first announced last March, during the game of creative director musical chairs at Kering, I was waiting with baited breath to catch a glimpse of the house’s fancy new era. I have not been disappointed: Gucci is so here.
A decade ago, Demna succeeded Alexander Wang as the creative director of Balenciaga. During his tenure at the fashion house, he was able to continually push boundaries and redefine and reinvent Balenciaga’s century-old identity, keeping it a relevant and genuinely cool staple of the luxury fashion market. He was able to make young consumers excited about the brand by incorporating a fresh streetwear-inspired aesthetic. After serving as Creative Director of Balenciaga for ten years, Kering decided to redirect his talents to the Italian luxury supergiant: Gucci.
As of late, the luxury market has been struggling. But, this has been felt by Gucci particularly sharply. In 2023, the brand shifted Creative Directors from Alessandro Michele to Sabato De Sarno. From 2023 to current the brand has been experiencing an alarming decline in sales. Aside from a lack of financial success, De Sarno’s collections didn’t connect with the fashion-enjoyers. Many people referred to this era as Gucci’s identity crisis. Not good. It is obvious that with Demna’s appointment to Gucci, they are praying for a 180° shift in fortunes.
Preceding the release of the brand’s upcoming film presentation during Milan Fashion Week entitled “The Tiger,” they have released their latest collection: “La Famiglia”. Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn impart fashion and film enthusiasts everywhere with a fantastic gift in the short film. The thirty-three minute long film begins with its protagonist, Barbara Gucci (played by Demi Moore), convulsing in a manner that seems referential to Isabelle Adjani in “Possession” (1981). Immediately, I was into it. Even in the film’s exposition, the viewer can feel the frantic energy that Rejin is so skilled at bringing out of the screen. The plot has the pace and foreboding feeling of Mike White’s “The White Lotus”. But, do not be fooled by the entertainment value of the film; there is more than meets the eye. Beyond the plot of Moore’s overextended business mogul character trying to curate a visage of perfection and familial bliss at her birthday dinner (which quickly devolves into surreal chaos) in order to receive a glowing endorsement from a celebrated writer, the film is making poignant commentary on the history of the brand.
Demna intends for “La Famiglia” to serve as a foundation for his new and improved Gucci. It interprets the brand’s vast history into an extended family portrait of different tropes and personalities. There are It Girls, party people, femme fatales, princesses, glamorous society ladies, professionals, momma’s boys, and narcissists in this family. Each character shows traces and references to Gucci’s mercurial past, while somehow maintaining a cohesive and enticing appearance. Every look is excitingly wearable. There is no reliance on gimmicks here. His collection is seductively decadent: it’s sexy sprezzatura.
Among some of the delicious design details showcased are outrageous cropped fur coats, slinky sets, and a mouthwateringly dramatic feather robe. In the look titled “Sciura”, we see a powder blue coat with leg of mutton sleeves and a massive icy blue fur collar: gaggy. Many of the menswear looks exhibit a severe elegance, the minimalistic styling allowing the viewer to drool over the incorporation of impeccably placed horsebit embellishments along pant pockets and coat collars. It’s so tasty.
The overarching metaphor is cleverly hidden in plain sight: Barbara Gucci is Gucci personified. Her narrative is meant to show the world Gucci at its most honest and vulnerable, allowing the world to empathize and sympathize with it. Barbara lacks introspection and a genuine fixed identity: she can only see herself from inside, but is oblivious to how she is seen by others. She endeavors to perform flawlessness under the constant and relentless eyes of the press (Her Olsen Twins-esque Cousins and the Vanity Fair Journalist conducting her profile). Though Gucci is resigned to perform immaculately, obviously, this is impossible. Inevitably, Gucci is left to flail and struggle to meet the industry-imposed ideal of perfection under the ever-watching eyes of the press. Gucci must allow herself to be subsumed by “the tiger” that is the fashion industry. This will finally give her the freedom to find herself.
When she no longer has to strain herself to perform within the soulless and normative perfection of the fashion world, she can start to understand who it is that she really is. This metaphor ties in perfectly to the previously confused Gucci brand identity. Even the casting of Demi Moore is so thoughtful. She herself represents that comebacks are possible at any stage. Prior to Demna, Gucci went from disconnected era to disconnected era, operating to cater to whatever was en vogue rather than focusing on maintaining a brand essence. This resulted in the crisis of identity we have been noticing from the brand for the past few seasons. Gucci —the brand— was tired and finally allowed itself to be devoured by the tiger. “La Famiglia” is a reorientation. A homecoming. Demna is beginning a new Gucci-centric era of Gucci, finally creating a definitive brand vocabulary and gallery of brand muse personae.
So far, Demna seems to be embracing and focusing on the unapologetic glamour that is deeply associated with Gucci in the cultural consciousness. His expression of glamour, though, is far fresher and more authentically modern than his predecessors’ work. It rejects the minimalistic austerity of De Sarno’s Gucci and the sometimes stifling and obsolete retro flair of Michele’s Gucci. Demna is leaning into the legacy of sexiness brought to the house by Tom Ford. In this debut, there is a natural and unfrilly coolness. It presents itself as unstudied and unpretentious. Demna’s voice at Gucci is showing itself to be very distinct from the rest of the voices in the fashion industry currently. Gucci isn’t being kitschy, gimmicky, stuffy, snobby, utilitarian, esoteric, or nonchalant: Gucci is finally just being Gucci.
Words by Benjamin Pulka
Graphics by Rose Davis