Swerving from a maximalist Times Square takeover to a major partnership with F1 within a 10-day span just proves it: Gucci has accelerated into a spectacle era, driven by Demna — fashion’s king of cultural maximalism. 

On May 27, the luxury brand announced a multi-year, $150 million title partnership with the Alpine Formula One team beginning in 2027, coinciding with the launch of Gucci Racing, a new “business and experiential platform at the intersection of luxury and sport,” per the brand’s press release. The newly minted Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team will zip around the track next year, with a full slate of off-track programming planned for maximum Guccification. 

There’s a strong underdog narrative at play here, as well: Demna is in the midst of pulling the troubled fashion house out of a post-Alessandro Michele downturn, while Alpine is on an upswing this season after finishing dead last in 2025.

Getting the Gucci logo in pole position within one of the world’s fastest-growing sports is a major play for the beleaguered brand. And with a full year before the newly Guccified Alpine team debuts, we have plenty of time to wonder what kind of fits Demna will dream up for his racers.

Gucci Racing adds gas to the luxury fashion trend of forgoing one-and-done collabs in favor of multi-year partnerships: Louis Vuitton’s very Keith Haringcore Cruise collection was essentially an ad for its three-year deal to support the Frick Collection, while Bvlgari recently became the official partner of the Venice Biennale through 2030. 

The Alpine deal cements Gucci as the first luxury clothing label to enter into this level of partnership with an F1 team, right as the sport is nearing a $3 billion sponsorship boom fueled by a slate of brand deals with everyone from Tommy Hilfiger to Louis Vuitton — and, of course, the popularity of Brad Pitt’s Oscar-nominated F1 The Movie (or, as I like to call it, Brad Pitt in Fast Car Goes Vroom Vroom). 

Merging into F1’s lane is just the latest move in Demna's hot streak of incorporating moto culture into his clothes; his Balenciaga era included oversized racing leathers and a $70,000 shark sculpture made by Japanese artist Showichi Kaneda for F1 Vegas 2024.