September 24, 2025 |
For a soft launch, the new Demna era at Gucci hits pretty hard. The designer unveiled his debut take on the iconic brand, first dropping a lookbook. But not just any old catalogue. Entitled La Famiglia, it was shot by art photographer Catherine Opie, featuring a constellation of 37 characters each representing a more ‘Gucci than Gucci’ archetype. La VIP in head-to-toe logo mania, La Bomba played by Alex Consani in a tiger fur chubby and spike heels, Bastardo in tiny white budgie smugglers, Narcisista with his shirt unbuttoned to the waist (Demna has cited Tom Ford as a major inspiration). Well, that got everyone talking about character driven collections as opposed to trend driven ones – the something for everyone approach.
Then, 24 hours later, in Milan and in lieu of a catwalk show, he presented a mini movie directed and written by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, starring Demi Moore with Edward Norton, Ed Harris, Keke Palmer and Elliot Page with costumes of course by Gucci. “I really wanted to work with someone that would add an artistic dimension and point of view,” said Demna of his clever move to put the clothes in a context beyond fashion.
For one night only, the brand built a plush chocolate brown velvet cinema inside Milan’s stock exchange, to show the witty 30 minute short, The Tiger. It was set up like a proper movie premiere, with paparazzi snapping the stars as they arrived and louche models wearing the collection dotted about the auditorium.
Moore stars as Barbara Gucci, the heir to a fictional Gucci empire which has made her so rich, she just bought California. It followed Barbara as she launches her latest collection and celebrates her birthday with her eccentric family before the party goes horribly wrong. Despite her perfect image, her life is spinning out of control.
Think big and think outside the box. You’ve got to love the ambition of it all and the way Demna is flexing his cultural muscles. This is bigger than fashion. He clearly has a super-sized vision for Gucci and judging by his smiley demeanour on the night, he is clearly having fun.
“It was playful. Gucci is very much a fun brand,” he said after the screening. And in a new riff on the see-now-buy-now trend, the SS26 collection will be available exclusively in 10 Gucci stores (including the New Bond Street store in London) from September 25 to October 12, 2025 and will then globally drop in all stores in February, 2026. Get it while it’s hot.
Photography courtesy of Gucci.
