Gucci

Gucci‘s resort 2024 might officially own the title of “the most bizarre collection of the year”. It’s gimmick-ness, randomness and out-of-place-ness is sort of criminal… The no-designer period is a hard moment for the Italian brand, that’s for sure. The aesthetic echoes of Alessandro Michele can still be perceived, but there’s no method to all that madness. I think Sabato De Sarno won’t have an easy task with his debut.

Gucci is the latest house to stage a premiere event in Seoul. By now, the West understands the importance of this market, which holds a global influence. But it is no longer enough to simply show up and believe the sales will follow. Indeed, the idea of a show at Gyeongbokgung, the former royal palace where the Gucci show unfolded, induced more than one raised eyebrow among locals. Any Korean has been a hundred times over on field trips, escorting overseas guests, to see the cherry blossoms bloom, and it is the de facto destination for all foreigners shooting music videos, ad campaigns, and short films. The front row was filled with celebrities, both international (Dakota Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Saoirse Ronan) and domestic (NewJeans’s Hanni, IU, Lee Jung-jae). So what did Gucci see of Seoul? Model Sora Choi opened the show in a long black padded coat over jeans, clutching a fetching baguette-shaped bag that appeared again and again (kitted out in crystals, quilted in holographic lilac). There was a blend of bourgeois streetwear and sportswear, such as the bouclé bike shorts with the ladies-who-lunch jacket, cropped to flash the midriff, as well as a standout pale pink chiffon dress with tiered ruffles that fluttered down the runway, which was worn over a black scuba suit. Neoprene was seen as layered turtlenecks that zipped up to the chin, and paired with tweed midi skirts embellished with diamanté crystals racing up the sides. The referential mix of Tom Ford-era at Gucci nods was another move, although very forced. A sateen lilac coat worn by Karen Elson that closed with a red bow resembling the one which closes a traditional jeogori jacket was an elegant take on Korean heritage, as were the surrealist illustrations of pink jello and cat’s paws by local artist Ram Han. These were the finest highlights of this very unfocused collection.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Gucci’s in the middle of a seismic change. Alessandro Michele’s aesthetic and visual impact is still all over the brand, while Sabato De Sarno, the recently appointed new creative director, will show his first collection in September. The Gucci design studio has a rare opportunity to go carte blanche. Like in case of their last indie-sleazy menswear collection, the in-house designers of the mega-brand are enamored with Tom Ford’s era, but revisit his slim-lined heritage through a quirky, Michele-lens. Heart-shaped faux-fur collars on coats and heart-shaped panniers on party dresses; crystal-trimmed portholes on a black shift and slip dresses constructed from see-through sequins; high-drama faux fur chubbies and low-key boyfriend jeans and button-downs; and on the accessories front: oversized double G buckles, a horsebit handbag revived from 2003, metal spike heels about half as high as their ’90s progenitors, and a couple pairs of mukluks. The casting told a story about heritage, too. Amy Wesson, Guinevere Van Seenus, and Liisa Winkler all walked vintage Tom Ford runways. At the end of the show, design team members by the dozen emerged on the green-carpeted show venue to take a group bow. The point was made: Gucci is far more than whomever occupies the creative director seat. Still, it’s a crucial role, the instinctive force that stitches a collection into a unified whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.