Over the past 48 hours, Demna's Gucci has finally arrived, fed to us in three different parts, just to keep the drama alive.
The Georgian designer, who hails from Balenciaga and is the newly appointed Gucci artistic director, has always been a fan of showmanship, often creating dramatic sets like tundric snowstorms, mud pits, and runways at the New York Stock Exchange to convey his often-astute take on fashion and culture at large. It was no surprise, then, that his Gucci debut would be any different.
But it was different, and while most people expected a debut show for his first collection at the Italian house, Demna naturally subverted expectation this season with a surprise lookbook, a red carpet (it was technically brown) that turned into a runway, and a short film screening to convey his new Gucci vision to the world.
The rollout began with a surprise lookbook, which dropped the day before the scheduled "show" in Milan, and was a catalogue portraying all of the Gucci archetypes through Demna's eyes. Alex Consani posed in a crowd favorite look, "La Bomba," which featured an animal print fur coat, a pair of black stilettos, and not much else. Elsewhere, traditional Gucci codes were fused with Demna-isms. There were Gucci flora-like prints turned into gowns with exaggerated proportions and high collars, the Jackie bag is reissued in a soft, slouchy leather instead of it's classic, stiff leather construction. Meanwhile, odes to Tom Ford's era at the house came via slinky sequin tank tops and speedo swim trunks. Everything carried the same feeling that Demna evokes so well when he is building a world. Is he poking fun? Being ironic? Or is it just on-the-nose?
Gucci
Gucci
The Premiere
Getty Images
Getty Images
Then came the premiere of the Spike Jonze and Halima Reijn directed short, The Tiger, starring Demi Moore and plenty of other stars like Elliot Page, Keke Palmer, Edward Norton, Alia Shawkat, Ed Harris, Kendall Jenner, Alex Consani, and more. At the premiere at Milan’s Palazzo Mezzanotte—transformed with a brown-carpeted cinema and arrivals runway—the film cast and look book models arrived to a sea of photographers, turning the entrance into a live runway for the collection. Gwyneth Paltrow was there in a Gucci Monogrammed two piece, Consani arrived in her "La Bomba" look and persona, and Demi Moore showed up just in time for the film to begin in a gold sequin gown that she wears in the opening scene of the short.
The Tiger
The 30-minute film, directed by Spike Jonze and Halima Reijn, was a feat in itself. An A-list cast plays a dysfunctional family with Moore, who plays Barbara Gucci, the head of Gucci International and owner the state of California (eerie, I know). As the Gucci head prepares to celebrate her birthday with her children and an intimidating Vanity Fair reporter, things go south when Keke Palmer's girlfriend's (Shawkat) tincture makes its way into the champagne and sends the party on an accidental trip, where chaos ensues.
I loved the whole concept of this. It was very House of Gucci, very camp, very tongue-in-cheek in the film's references to glamour and wealth and AI. Marginally sinister and foreboding, yet comedic enough to take the edge off.
