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After months in limbo, Gucci has begun a new chapter under creative director Sabato De Sarno. Can it help Kering catch up with luxury peers like LVMH and Hermès?
On Friday, De Sarno presented a very pared-back vision for Spring/Summer 2024. The opening look was a long dark grey coat worn over matching grey shorts and a low-cut white tank paired with a black belt, chunky gold necklace and towering platform loafers. Much of the collection’s 55 looks stuck to streamlined silhouettes with a monochrome palette, with the exception of a striped blue and red jacket and shorts set, some sequin dresses and bralettes, and monogram rompers.
Instead of staging the show in Milan’s artists’ quarter Brera — where the idea was to have local residents peer over their balconies and watch — inclement weather forced Gucci to move the venue to its Gucci Hub headquarters on via Mecenate. That didn’t stop a Peta protestor from gatecrashing the runway with a sign that read: “Gucci: ban exotic skins” in bold red writing. (Protestors also crashed the Coach show during New York Fashion Week.)
Gucci’s show — one of the fashion industry’s most highly anticipated this year — marks a reset for Kering’s biggest brand (at more than €10 billion in sales, Gucci accounts for about half of the French parent company’s revenues). Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault believes there’s still more to do. “The potential of Gucci, in my opinion, is above €15 billion,” he told analysts during the group’s second-quarter earnings in July.
The collection was titled “Ancora” (again, or encore in English), a word chosen by De Sarno to convey the idea of a desire “that you still have, but you want more of it because it makes you happy”, he told Vogue Business ahead of the show. “I want people to fall in love with Gucci again.” That was apparent in pieces with signature house codes such as belts with interlocking Gs and archival styles like the Jackie and Bamboo bags, reinterpreted in new ways.
Sitting front row at Gucci Hub, a former Caproni aeronautical factory, were big stars including Ryan Gosling, Julia Roberts, Emma Roberts and Jodie Turner-Smith, Kering chief Pinault, and brand ambassadors and collaborators including actress Alia Bhatt, disability activist Sinéad Burke, model Liu Wen and Newjeans singer Hanni. Models walked to ‘Late Night Prelude’ by Mark Ronson as well as music from The XX singer Romy and Lykke Li.
The theme of desire extended to De Sarno’s new colour focus. Gone is his predecessor Alessandro Michele’s ornate green decorative pattern; instead a deep red, almost burgundy — Rosso Ancora, it’s called — appears throughout the collection, across skirts, shorts and jackets, as well as on the brand’s new advertising and packaging. The shade also features in Gucci’s new photography book, Prospettive 1: Milano Ancora, which details its creative evolution and was celebrated via a launch during Milan Fashion Week at the iconic Bar Jamaica.
The colour, according to Gucci, has featured many times in its brand history, including the walls of the staff elevator of The Savoy Hotel in London, where its founder Guccio Gucci worked as a porter at the end of the 18th century, and where he became inspired to create the brand — originally with a focus on leather goods and luggage.
Creating colour association is a savvy tactic long used by heritage brands like Christian Louboutin and Tiffany & Co. Daniel Lee has made blue a central colour at Burberry, much like how he used a distinctive shade of parakeet green across the designs and marketing at Bottega Veneta. At Maximilian Davis’s Ferragamo, the new shade is red — but a brighter shade, closer to vermillion.
Under Michele, who parted ways with Gucci in November 2022 after a seven-year run, the brand became one of fashion’s biggest success stories in recent years. However, it has lost steam since 2020, due in part to a weaker performance in markets like China. A new strategy announced at Kering’s Capital Markets Day in June 2022, which includes a full return to the fashion calendar as well as further expansion across high-end categories, menswear and travel, has yet to yield results. Gucci’s sales edged up 1 per cent in the second quarter.
Efforts to reignite Gucci are underway, including the arrival of De Sarno, who was appointed by Gucci in January, and a change in Kering’s executive management: group managing director Jean-François Palus is leading the brand for a transitional period, while the company seeks a more permanent replacement for longtime president and CEO Marco Bizzarri, who leaves following De Sarno’s show.
It remains to be seen whether more aspects of De Sarno’s vision will be translated across brand touchpoints, such as its newly reopened flagship store in London, which houses its first Salon concept for VIP customers in Europe (the first opened in Los Angeles in April). Prior to the show, the designer has been teasing his new vision for Gucci, which recently wiped all posts from its Instagram account. Web3 remains a focus for the brand: the show was accompanied by metaverse experiences on three platforms — Roblox, Zepeto and China’s QQ — designed to provide access to a global audience.
De Sarno’s first major advertising campaign, revealed in August, features Daria Werbowy curled up next to a pool at LA’s Chateau Marmont hotel wearing oversized gold “Marina Chain” jewellery and a black bathing suit. The ad’s pared-back aesthetic, along with the casting of Werbowy — a model who exploded into the scene and dominated the catwalk in the early 2000s and retired just as swiftly in 2016 — hinted at a return to Tom Ford’s 90s era at Gucci. Under the American designer, from 1994 to 2004, the brand became synonymous with a jetset, minimalist, luxurious feel.
A recent shift has led consumers globally to pivot towards “quiet luxury” investment pieces. Throughout the Autumn/Winter 2023 ready-to-wear and couture season, designers moved away from flashy logos to a more sophisticated aesthetic and refined silhouettes. On Thursday, Peter Hawkings’s SS24 collection for Tom Ford — another highly anticipated debut — was a louche yet luxurious outing that featured velvet fabrics and crocodile scales across suit jackets, skirts and trousers. There were also open shirts, matching belt buckles, leather mini skirts and slinky gowns.
Other Kering brands, such as Bottega Veneta, whose show under creative director Matthieu Blazy takes place on Saturday, have also benefitted from the trend. Industry insiders are expecting a continuation of innovative fabrics (for Blazy’s AW22 debut, he famously turned denim into leather) and elevated designs.
Michele, with his vivacious colours, branding and motifs, appeared to resist the idea of a timeless appeal. In contrast, De Sarno, with his focus on classic lines and tailoring precision, may be well positioned to thrive in today’s environment. His nostalgic references could also resonate with younger generations, who increasingly take an interest in archive fashion.
In today’s trend-driven era, when all brands are jostling for attention, will De Sarno’s understated craft appeal to consumers who are easily distracted by a bold approach? Mytheresa’s chief buying officer Tiffany Hsu is a fan. “The collection was slick, minimalist and modern, and featured many easy-to-wear looks,” she told Vogue Business after the show.
For Neiman Marcus’s vice president of luxury fashion Jodi Kahn, the show represented “a clean slate” for the brand. “The styling was a nice bridge between the brand’s former maximalist house codes and the new evolution towards a more modern aesthetic,” she observes.
The accessories stood out, buyers agreed. “The embellished Jackie bag is fantastic; the new elongated shape is a nice updated take. I also really liked the flatform loafers,” says Hsu. Kahn was also a fan of seeing brand classics reinterpreted in various shapes and sizes, as well as De Sarno’s new interpretation of the Morsetto loafer. Time will tell whether consumers will buy into the new look, but Kahn already predicts that the mini Bamboo bag will be a favourite among customers.
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