By Elisa Anzolin
MILAN, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Gucci’s new creative director Demna presented a collection of legging-pants, seamless mini dresses and shimmering long gowns in his first fashion show for the Italian label, whose French owner Kering bets on a creative reset to revive plummeting sales at its flagship brand.
The catwalk, framed by large white steps and big blocks resembling white marbles that supported classical statues, was a nod to the Uffizi Museum in Florence, where Guccio Gucci founded the brand in 1921.
The Georgian designer, who spent a decade at Kering’s Balenciaga brand, took over as Gucci’s creative director in July last year, after a two-year tenure by Sabato De Sarno.
“Today is the birthday of my vision for Gucci. A house that has lived many lives,” Demna, 44, wrote in a letter published in some newspapers on Friday after appearing on Instagram on Thursday.
“In general I intend for Gucci to become lighter, softer, more refined, more elaborate, more emotional, even senseless sometimes. I don’t want it to be intellectual,” he said.
At the September Milan fashion week Demna unveiled his first vision for the brand, called “La Famiglia”, in a lookbook on Instagram and screening a short where actors wore the outfits.
The new collection is called “Gucci Primavera”.
“My vision of Gucci is about the coexistence of heritage and fashion. Here they are not opposites, they are lovers,” Demna said in the letter. “This first Gucci show introduces a universe of people, archetypes, consumers and dress codes that will shape my design language moving forward,” he said. “It is a beginning, but it is intentional and fully formed.”
New Kering CEO Luca De Meo told journalists ahead of the show that some items from the new collection would be available for sale already on Friday in some shops and online.
“It was important to give a sign of speed and dynamism,” De Meo said.
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Editing by Valentina Za and Tomasz Janowski)