Gucci opens Milan fashion week with film showcasing new looks by bold hire creative director
Gucci has become bland, and its new designer, Demna, has been hired to bring the hot sauce. But will the Italian brand’s walk on the wild side be a renaissance, or a mid-life crisis?
The first chapter of Demna’s Gucci, which opened Milan fashion week, appeared online a day ahead of schedule (very culturally modish, like a surprise album drop) and ditched the traditional catwalk format for a film by Spike Jonze and Babygirl’s director, Halina Reijn, about a fictional Barbara Gucci – “President of Gucci and of the State of California” – played by Demi Moore.
The film, a high-fashion mashup of House of Gucci and The Substance, was “about how we are all trying to be so perfect, and how impossible it is”, said Demna at the opening. The film’s wardrobe told a story about the Gucci family – the nerd, the narcissist, the party boy, the diva – which sent up the brand while celebrating it at the same time. In other words, Demna showed that he understands right away what Sabato de Sarno, his predecessor, never seemed to grasp, which is that Gucci has to be about more than just clothes.
De Sarno was abruptly let go from the Gucci top job earlier this year, as his brand of understated urban chic, politely received by critics, proved too dull for restless modern attention spans. Demna was a surprise-choice replacement, a provocateur whose signatures are an almost-ugly bulky silhouette and headline-grabbing fashion week stunts including a catwalk show that turned out to be a Simpsons cartoon, and wrapping Kim Kardashian in duct tape. A bold hire for the home of glossy handbags and sensible, evergreen leather loafers.
