GUCCI PREVIEW SS26

Lights… camera… Gucci! Italy’s most valuable label kicked off their SS26 collection, not on a traditional runway, but with a starstudded red carpet, culminating in a 30 minute short film called “The Tiger.” This makes sense when you consider the new creative director of Gucci is none other than fashion’s resident renegade: Demna. You heard it right. That Demna. The very same Demna that made headlines at Balenciaga for ultra-exaggerated silhouettes and absurdist antics. Demna’s appointment at Gucci was easily one of the most heavily anticipated debuts of this Paris Fashion Week. 

Despite sartorial speculation, the collection Gucci delivered was actually pretty tame— at least by Demna’s standards. The collection revolved around 37 “characters” or archetypes of Italian culture. This was the earliest glimpse at Demna’s answer to Gucci’s ongoing decline in sales. In creating a world around the looks, as well as a literal cinematic universe, Demna is pulling Gucci into a new era— one that means so much more than a double G belt. 

The collection was classic Gucci all the way. Looks included head-scarves and big sunglasses, paired with sharp coats and don't-talk-to-me scowls. One look featuring a scarlet coat, black leather gloves, was humorously titled “Incazzata” which literally means “pissed off.” 

There were obvious references to Gucci staples, albeit with a touch of red carpet flair. The famous Gucci monogram adorned a tried-and true leather trench, but also a luxurious Kaftan-style gown. These Gucci motifs continued throughout a number of red, and green embellishments, cropping up on leather jackets, ties, and shirt dresses. 

Demna-isms still made appearances throughout the collection, particularly in two shearling fur coats. One accompanied a character named “La Bomba,” and featured an exaggerated tiger print, reminiscent of Gucci’s tiger logo, as well as the title of the SS26 short film, directed by Spike Jonze. The other coat stands out as an outlying look of the collection, embracing a slightly cartoonish silhouette. The pastel blue double-breasted coat also featured a thick fur collar, with shoulders that are Demna through and through. 

Two looks highlighted Demna’s sardonic sense of humor, presenting male models in nothing but black and white loincloth speedos. While you might not see people clamoring for Gucci swim briefs, Demna’s mastery of the brand’s campy glamor is clear. Every look in the collection meant purposeful exaggeration—a vogue caricature of who we “become” when we put on an outfit. 

The standouts of the show were both dresses, though one could not be farther from the other. The first: A bubblegum pink gown, with feathery hems. Although infinitely more elegant, there are definite whispers of Gucci’s pre-Fall 2022 show embedded in the look’s DNA. Given his upgrades, it would seem Demna is confident standing with one foot in the past and one in his vision of Gucci’s bizarre future.  

 The second dress was another Gucciaga fusion, combining Demna’s stranger Balenciaga tendencies with a bit of grown-up Gucci gravitas. Where the hood-collar dress from Balenciaga's FW26 show (Demna’s last at the label) was harsh and imposing, Demna’s revamped Gucci version was delightfully moody. Instead of a full, wrap-around collar, the otherwise simple dress featured an ornate asymmetric collar. As in so many of the looks from his debut collection, Demna is scaling back the gimmicks in favor of genuine worldbuilding. Though many of the Gucci SS26 looks were textbook, Demna appears to be setting the groundwork for something bigger. There’s a chance he’s just toying with us? But this could well be the starting point for Demna’s Gucci revolution.