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If brown is the new black, then films are the new fashion shows. Most designers mark their debut for a storied luxury brand by staging a star-studded catwalk show. But Demna Gvasalia is not most designers.
Tasked with presenting his first collection for Gucci on the first day of Milan Fashion Week, the former creative director of Balenciaga invited guests including Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Serena Williams and Lila Moss to watch a film instead.
Granted, some of them were in it, such as Moore, 62. She plays Barbara Gucci, fictional head of Gucci International in The Tiger, a 30-minute flick directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn.
But what customers are really interested in are the clothes. Those were unveiled some 24 hours previously, when Demna, 44, unexpectedly ‘dropped’ a series of 37 looks, titled ‘La Famiglia’ (The Family), each modelled on an Italian stereotype.
Model Lila Moss was ‘Ragazza’ (Italian slang for ‘girlfriend’) in a black-crocodile print leather mini skirt and matching knee-length boots.
She wore the same look to the film’s screening, while Gwyneth Paltrow, 52, appeared dressed as ‘La VIP’, in a pussy-bow blouse, an A-line skirt and knee-high boots all festooned with the Gucci logo. Subtle, it wasn’t.
Gwyneth Paltrow appeared dressed as ‘La VIP’ on the first day of Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday, in a pussy-bow blouse, an A-line skirt and knee-high boots all with the Gucci logo
Model Lila Moss was ‘Ragazza’ (Italian slang for ‘girlfriend’) in a black-crocodile print leather mini skirt and matching knee-length boots
Demi Moore plays Barbara Gucci, fictional head of Gucci International in The Tiger, a 30-minute flick directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn and played at Milan Fashion Week
While Demna’s fans claim he is a genius, his critics claim he’s less of a designer than a marketing wizard who knows how to get people talking about his clothes.
Certainly, everyone is talking about ‘the new Gucci’, which, given sales dropped a calamitous 25 per cent in the second quarter of the financial year, is exactly what parent company Kering needs to happen – and fast.
Whether ‘the new Gucci’ is very different to ‘the old Gucci’ – specifically the period when the label was helmed by Tom Ford – is a matter of opinion.
Fans of Ford’s mid-Nineties heyday will rejoice in its return to a sexier, more subversive look that values logos and leather over subtle whimsy.
