Demna’s Making Gucci “Unapologetically Sexy”
Before unveiling his first designs at Gucci, newly hired creative director Demna did the most Demna thing: he cleared the brand’s Instagram page.
It’s a trick we’ve seen the Georgian designer play countless times during his decade-long Balenciaga tenure. First, the Instagram gets wiped, then every look from the new collection is uploaded as a single post. Demna is bringing his old hype-inducing marketing tricks to the house of Gucci.
As for the clothes? Well, a press release from the Italian fashion house described them as a study of “Gucciness,” promising a new era that is “unapologetically sexy, extravagant, and daring.”
However, this is as much a study of “Demna-ness” as it is all things Gucci.
Spanning 38 looks, each of the models was given a persona. There was the “Bastardo” wearing only skimpy white swimming trunks, oversized aviator sunglasses, and Gucci-branded flip-flops, while the “Rubacuori” (Italian for heartthrob) was decked out in a full tuxedo, his necklace worn over his shirt and a pink flower on his left lapel.
Demna’s collections have always pitted different archetypes together, where one minute there’s a tracksuit-wearing lad and the next, there’s a sleek evening dress worn with classic black heels. Here, the designer goes so far as naming each of the personalities he’s dreamt up.
This distinct clashing of dress codes makes the collection, titled La Famiglia, feel distinctly Demna. As do items like the broad-shouldered coats and kitchy floral dresses, all familiar signatures from his Balenciaga days.
But there are also new things that Demna’s been able to explore now that he’s moved to a new house. There’s new iconography, for instance, with Gucci’s signature red and green stripe running down the front of tight-fitting knitwear and the metal horsebit normally found on Gucci’s loafers transferred onto the pockets of wide-legged pants.
As promised in the collection notes, there was also a heightened sexiness with shirts and jackets left unbuttoned to present the model’s bare chests, while some looks consisted of head-to-toe sheer fabric. By no means the most risque of design choices, but a little more racy than your typical oversized Demna affair.
It was expected that Demna wouldn't ditch his typical aesthetic. This debut collection, presented on Instagram on September 22 before a Milan fashion week event on September 23, is a small taste of what Demna's been cooking up in his short opening month at Gucci. As the designer told fashion journalist Suzy Menkes, “I need more than two months to build a vision.”
La Famiglia is the soft launch of a Demna-fied Gucci. His debut Gucci runway show, scheduled for March 2026, is where we really get to see what he has planned for the Italian house. And maybe then we'll see more of the unapologetic sexiness that Gucci speaks of.
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