Gucci’s cool girls parade in London

Every parade is a challenge. Creative challenge. Media: Strategic. Every time you have to take the glove. In an uncertain, even tense economic context (Gucci house of the Kering group shows a decline in turnover in the first half of 2024), the issue becomes more sensitive. For his first cruise show, Gucci’s new artistic director, Sabato De Sarno, who arrived in January 2023, seemed eager to break away from this pressure. The march in London, away from Italian soil, probably encouraged this move, this distance, and allowed us to get away with it better.

Gucci’s founding ties to London

The history between the English capital and the Italian house is old, however. In 1899, a young man named Guccio Gucci went to work as a porter at the Savoy Hotel in London. During this period, he observed the wealthy clients of the hotel, their refined tastes, what they wore… This art of travel inspired him to return home to Florence to start his leather accessories business. In 1921, he founded the Gucci house. Almost a hundred years later, Sabato De Sarno decided to open its Cruise collection in London. A subtle way of pulling the Ariadne thread from the founder of the Italian house, but to better reveal one’s own vision. Moreover, this cruise collection was not presented in the legendary Savoy, but in the giant Tate Modern, located on the banks of the Thames, a place dear to the heart of the Italian designer. “The return to the origins of the house is motivated by the desire to absorb its special essence, its unlimited ability to bring together opposites and to dialogue them,” emphasizes Sabato de Sarno. We are here to celebrate this spirit. For me, the Tate Modern, a unique cultural arena, is the perfect intersection for that.”

The art of contrast

In the museum’s concrete labyrinth, Sabato de Sarno and his teams envisioned an environment where nature would reclaim its rights over the city, coexisting in a poetic urban garden. This whole collection called We’ll Always Have London Plays on Contrasts. Minimal and lush. The radical and the subtle. The strong and the fragile. “I wanted to reveal another part of me,” says the designer. More romantic, more controversial. I like to take something we think we know and break free from its rules. Bring it to its opposite and find its harmony.’

The entire collection is directed towards this quest. find harmony in dichotomy. Evening meets everyday, sartorial: merges work clothes. Long evening dresses in delicate chiffon are worn with oversized leather jackets, cut-out skirts embroidered with 3D flowers are mixed with long denim jackets. Tight suits are decorated with wild daisy patterns. Long coats become expensive garments adorned with shimmering beaded fringes.

Modern seventies

the spirit of seventies it’s revisited with silhouettes updated with suede jackets over steamy tees worn with wide-leg patchwork trousers and tiny horse ballerinas or young-girl micro-shorts. Sabato De Sarno combines ‘British’ and Italian styles to better capture the modern cool girl. She strolls in a sheer organza blouse over white jeans covered in a beaded fringe that dances with every step. She asserts herself in a total look, with a stiff canvas skirt and a large malabar-colored jacket that she wears with reptiles.

Dua Lipa, Kate Moss and Demi Moore in the front row

The whole thing exudes a certain idea of ​​casual chic with a wardrobe designed to be worn every day by today’s girls. Some would say a pragmatic vision, but fashion cannot and should not be reduced to displaying spectacular, incredible (and sometimes unclean) extravagance. Sabato De Sarno reaffirms its strategy with this collection that is focused on harmony. From Salma Hayek to Demi Moore via Debbie Harry or English stars Dua Lipa, Kate Moss and her daughter Lila, there were plenty of celebrities to grace the show anyway.