Did we just get our first taste of Gucci’s Demna-fication?

It’s been close to two months since Demna was announced as the new artistic director of Gucci, but we’ve still got a bit of a wait for his big debut collection for the Florentine house to drop – he’s got to get his swan song Balenciaga Haute Couture show out of the way in June before he can really hunker down in his new gig. Rumour has it, however, that he’s already been getting his hands dirty with the Gucci design team and helped to shape the Cruise 2026 offering that dropped in Florence last night (May 15). Whether that’s true or not, Gucci insiders will not confirm, but either way, the new collection was full of Demna-esque markers that suggested he has actually been mooching about the atelier a bit just recenfly. As always, here’s everything you need to know.

BACK TO WHERE IT ALL. STARTED

“Gucci is Florence and Florence is Gucci” read the show notes, and so this time around, as the brand awaits its next big reset care of Demna, it brought it back to where it all started. Florence was where Guccio Gucci made his first double-G emblazoned luxury leather luggage, and the city remains a real Gucci hub. As well as its Michelin-starred Osteria restaurant, it’s also home to the Gucci archivio, where iconic pieces from the house’s storied past line the halls. This was where the show took place, with guests including longtime Gucci ambassador Paul Mescal, newbie David Jonsson, Julia Garner and Mark Ronson piling into the venue and taking their place on the front row.

OMG, SHE’S SO KOOKY

Under Sabato’s direction, the house forged forward with clean, minimalist pieces, but since the studio took over last season, we’ve seen a return to the more all-over-the-place eclecticism favoured by Alessandro Michele and the seductive sexiness of Tom Ford’s. This time around was no different. Super soft Margot Tenenbaum-esque fur jackets and little jewel-bright jacquard car coats finished with fuzzy collars were thrown on over slinky leather pencil skirts and buttoned-up pussy-bow blouses that rippled like water as the models made their way through the show space. Swishy party dresses were crafted from hi-shine silver lamé or came covered with polka dots or trippy, psychedelic prints, and were given a contemporary update through the styling – some were layered over lurid velvet and crystal-covered leggings. The result was mega youthful and fun, with MJ Harper explaining that’s exactly what the team had been trying to achieve in the lead up to the show. “We just wanted the models to look like they were having a lot of fun in the clothes,” the Berlin-based movement director told me post-show.

THERE WAS DEFINITELY A TOUCH OF DEMNA IN THERE

As someone who’s extremely excited for Demna to take over Gucci, I’m still of the opinion that the studio team are doing a great job holding the fort. Seems like they’re similarly stoked for the Georgian designer’s arrival though, and whether he had a hand in this collection or not, he’s certainly had some sort of influence over it. The whole thing had the kind of sleazy feel that’s been stitched through his  Balenciaga collections for the best part of a decade, and more specifically, a bunch of Demnaisms were plentiful, seen in the big, exaggerated shoulders, blown-up outerwear, and weirdo little accents, like the pervy tinted aviators and the gaudy gold pigs, enamel snails, and pearl-encrusted seahorse earrings that swung from the models’ lobes. Was this our first glimpse of what Gucci is going to look like under his rein? Only time will tell.

GUCCI GIVES GREAT PARTY

The post-show Gucci Cruise parties are notoriously wild – who remembers the time Lana Del Rey got on a table to scream along to “Summetume Sadness” at the house’s 2022 show in Puglia? Last night offered up more of the same. On leaving the show, guests were whisked through Florence as the setting sun started to turn the city golden, and landed outside the impressive Santa Maria Novella church. Dinner was served al fresco in a verdant, candlelit courtyard, before everyone made their way inside for friend of the house Mark Ronson’s DJ set. Listening to “Guess” by Charli xcx while the monks slept upstairs felt almost sacrilegious, but who knows: maybe they’re having a Brat Summer of their own?