There are fashion shows, and then there are turning points. And Demna’s arrival at Gucci feels like the latter – a rupture, a fresh incision into the myth of a House that has never shied from spectacle. With La Famiglia, his debut chapter there, Gucci isn’t just unveiling clothes, it feels as if Demna is staging an operatic prologue to a new era; lavish, unruly.
The concept is rooted in multiplicity. Rather than presenting a single archetype of the Gucci woman – or man – Demna unveils a whole family of characters, each one exaggerated yet familiar, as if pulled from the collective unconscious of fashion itself. Captured through the iconic lens of Catherine Opie in a series of portraits, the extended Gucci family comes to life: La Bomba with her feline stripes, La Cattiva channeling the severity of a cinematic femme fatale, or Miss Aperitivo, who seems entirely uninterested in anything beyond her next glass of prosecco. These are not mere “looks”; they are personalities, avatars of the House’s kaleidoscopic identity.
What makes this collection resonate is its unapologetic embrace of contradiction. It is both maximalist and minimal, erotic and elegant, saluting and irreverent.
A feathered opera coat sits comfortably alongside seamless hosiery worn as ready-to-wear. Eveningwear morphs into swimwear, body-conscious and black-tie at once. Even menswear is touched by glamour, dressed not for function but for pleasure. It’s Demna’s sly acknowledgment that la dolce vita is, at heart, a state of mind.
Heritage is, of course, central. But here it is treated with the irreverence of sprezzatura – the art of appearing effortless. The Gucci Bamboo 1947 bag and the Horsebit loafer, icons of Italian craftsmanship, are re-proportioned and re-contextualised. The Flora motif is cast in nocturnal shades, while the GG monogram becomes almost excessive, engulfing its wearer from sunglasses to shoes. It is heritage as obsession, not nostalgia.
What ties it together is the sense of Gucci as more than a fashion House; it’s a cultural posture, an aesthetic tribe. Demna’s La Famiglia acknowledges Gucci’s past while pointing decisively forward, laying the foundation for his first runway show in February 2026 in Milan. If this is the prologue, the story ahead promises to be lavish, daring. And we await it all with bated breath.
