A Moment in Time We Won’t Forget at Gucci
Review of Gucci Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
90s-without-nostalgia, outsized outerwear, brilliant bamboo
90s-without-nostalgia, outsized outerwear, bamboo
The naysayers may just have to eat their words as Sabato De Sarno’s Gucci was a tour de force of the great and good of Gucci this season. It’s also what can come to fruition when a creative direction has the courage of their convictions and doesn’t deviate from the path their on. Confident of where they’re steering the brand, and knowing that we will eventually arrive where they were leading us.
As if to solidify that this is his moment to make Gucci his own, todays invitation was a Gucci-fied version of Enzo Mari’s perpetual calendar for Danese Milano – a visual signifier of strong Italian design. The invitation, was an invitation “to fix one’s own moment in time” according to today’s notes. And whatever the future holds it is clear that this moment for the brand will become a part of its history.
The set design for the spring show was a colour-drenched tunnel of the holiday hues teased on social media, which started from the blank state of white, to yellow, deep orange, and eventually into Ancora red. A metaphor for the designers time so far with Gucci, and the evolution that has culminated in the descent into a defiant red, perhaps?
A decidedly 90s mood hit the runway for the first few looks, re-formatting tailoring into unexpected silhouettes (such as a romper), were as per the designers signature across these first few seasons. It was what you could imagine Caroline Bessette wearing at the time. The iconic Gucci biker jacket, made famous during the Tom Ford era, returned in red. Interspersed were a series of evening dresses which are also becoming a De Sarno trope. Incorporating spaghetti straps, multi-textured lace and geometric seaming into slip style dresses which nod to the underwear-as-outerwear trend making its way across the season. More intriguing though were the languid maxi dresses that appeared to be two simple swathes of liquid jersey stitched precariously at the hip. These dresses and their easy glamour can effortlessly be pictured in the sunset scenes that were on the designers mind this season, as the ultimate moment-maker.
As opposed to reflecting what we saw in his menswear show in June (which is what I predicted would happen) in terms of the retro-style prints, here two of the brands most recognisable graphic elements i.e. the horse bit and the bamboo were turned into repeat prints in a tropical array of pastel colours and used for sweet mini sets. Reflecting how we all like to dress when in a sunshine state of mind. And who knows, we may even see these looks on the next season of Apple TV show ‘Palm Royale’. The Bamboo, which is an inherent part of the Gucci IP, is also being celebrated in another stop on the brands cultural caravan, which has seen it visit global cities that share a stake in its brand story. And with 2024 marking the opening of ‘Bamboo 1947: Then and Now. Celebrating 60 Years of Gucci in Japan’, today’s collection will be forever linked with the exhibition. One of those shared moments the designer talked about as part of his influences. In the finale looks I was excited to see a set of four super-sized coats which trailed the floor – a trench coat, utility coat, cocoon coat, and robe coat – as these felt like the designer breaking out of the archive and bringing more of himself to the table. These were also viable candidates for the establishing of his own signature silhouettes, in his evolution of the brand.
Not just an occasion to launch a collection, Milan fashion week also saw the brand get technical, with an update to its Apple Vision Pro app, which lets users explore the Bamboo 1947 bag in 3D. In the real world there was also the launch of ‘Gucci Prospettive 3: Italiane Ancora’ a book which pays tribute to female art and showcases the work of 40 female Italian artists. A passion project of the designer, by conceiving the book he wanted to “explore the origins of inspiration and how cultural heritage is transmitted and renewed over time”. And what better moment to do that now.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
A Gucci collection which contained many moods also served as a springboard for the launch of some Sabato-defined silhouettes, from the super XL coats to the lace panelled dresses, we are seeing the designer go back to the brands roots through eras when it ruled the runways, to reimagine how some of the most defining looks from the time can work for a new moment.
