Gucci headed to London for its Cruise 2025 show on May 13, where creative director Sabato De Sarno sought to refresh the House of Gucci with a little British springtime.
As Solange, Arca, Rina Sawayama, Kaytranada, and Demi Moore sat front-row, De Sarno's vision of new-school Gucci strolled through the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. The clothes epitomized Gucci's Sabato De Sarno era: casual, trim, tailored. Kinda classy, slightly saucy. De Sarno's Gucci in a nutshell.
Also De Sarno's Gucci: lots of leg.
Throughout, his signature teensy shorts mingled with daisy-fresh blouses, double-breasted jackets and sporty tanktops. The vibe was flirtatious, much more contemporary than classic but still steeped in Gucci tradition (note the lobster claw clasp transformed into a statement necklace).
With Cruise 2025, De Sarno made clear that he would uphold the design codes established with his prior Gucci collections, though evolution is apparent: a whiff of Earl Grey wafted in by way of London-friendly showerproof staples like cropped gabardine coats.
It reflected, as Gucci said in a press release, "Englishness with an Italian accent."
"I owe a lot to this city, it has welcomed and listened to me," De Sarno continued.
"The same is true for Gucci, whose founder was inspired by his experience there. The House’s return is driven by a desire to be immersed in its distinctive essence, its creative driving force with its limitless capability to put together contrasts, make them converse, and find ways to coexist. Today we are here to celebrate that spirit.”
Cruise and resort collections are rarely a tentpole moment for the world's largest luxury labels — big moments are typically saved for the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter offerings — but Gucci's Cruise 2025 show is laden with a touch more meaning.
Much hay has been made of parent company Kering's recent underwhelming financial reports, so much so that some outlets are touting "the fall of Gucci" what with how closely the two entities' fortunes are linked (Gucci earned about half of Kering's revenue in 2023).
De Sarno always had big shoes to fill. Gucci flourished under the purview of his predecessor, Alessandro Michele, so the young and relatively unknown designer (one of many at Kering) had his work cut out even before he took the reigns.
Between Michele and De Sarno, Gucci's in-house design team produced offerings that were crisp, classic and, according to some critics, a bit constrained.
De Sarno, meanwhile, sexed it all up for Spring/Summer 2024, his Gucci debut.
He envisioned a Gucci that was sleek and saucy, not afraid to show skin even when wearing clothes that looked positively normcore by comparison: translucent tank tops and mini-mini-skirts meet baggy hoodies and funnel-necked bombers.
It was not a resolute rebuttal of Michele's '70s eroticism but it was more '90s, more Tom Ford, more Miu Miu and possibly even more wearable than the Gucci of old.
Critics were torn but, according to retailers, customers were not. De Sarno's Gucci only just arrived in stores in early 2024 but it's apparently already quite popular. Little surprise that Cruise 2025 resolutely stays the course from SS24 and FW24.
Perhaps it's as they say: things always look darkest before the dawn.
