Demna’s Times Square runway redefined the history of Gucci and the future of Cruise collections
From wiped Instagram accounts to AI billboards in Times Square, Demna's Gucci era is only just getting started and GucciCore is his most daring statement yet.
Arguably the most talked about moment from the AW26 runway season was Gucci’s Milan show. Demna’s first show as Creative Director of the House, the catwalk redefined the House’s traditional Italian luxury aesthetic into something more punky and Gen Z friendly. Building up to the show, Gucci took a leaf out of Charli XCX’s (or Madonna’s, or basically every it-girl’s) book by wiping all previous Instagram presence in favour of the new era, before presenting a star-studded catwalk featuring Alex Consani, Gabriette, Amelia Gray and Kate Moss (to name a few).
This might sound like a hard act to follow, but this is Demna we’re talking about, so for the new Gucci Cruise collection, he upped the ante once more, presenting GucciCore.
Though traditional Cruise collections are often overlooked (having initially been introduced to provide for an older clientele’s autumn escapes), GucciCore not only solidified Demna’s vision for the brand, but redefined the notion of a Cruise collection altogether.
Hedonism, debauchery and maximalism are the buzzwords that come to mind when viewing the collection, second only to “Gucci”, which Demna hopes to transform into an “adjective” during his appointment with the brand. As with the AW26 runway, the GucciCore show tapped into the Gen Z consumer market, and was more of a love letter to New York than to the brand’s ancestral home of Florence.
The runway took place in the beating heart of the Big Apple: Times Square. The surrounding billboards were taken over by AI-generated Gucci adverts. Using AI adverts as the backdrop for a fashion show might seem a little on the nose, but we think it’s genius. After all, a runway is the most expensive advertisement a brand could invest in, and Demna isn’t one to beat around the bush in the name of manners. Provocation has always been a central pillar of the brand’s identity, and Demna isn’t shying away from it anytime soon.
As for the catwalk itself, models like Alex Consani and Emily Ratajkowski joined internet sensations Gabriette and Paris Hilton and an entire cast of yoga-mat toting pilates princesses, backpack wielding finance bros and other New York archetypes down the runway. The collection captured Gen Z’s nostalgia for the early ’00s with snakeskin trousers and oversized sunnies, but also brought the oversized silhouettes and noise-cancelling headphones from the 2020s we (shamefully) couldn’t live without.
Instead of presenting an outdated Cruise collection for an offline generation, Demna presented a fashion spectacle for the internet-literate, wrapped up in latex, faux fur and leather. Why show us manicured models in a polished space when you can show us real (albeit incredibly attractive) people sporting the clothes in a space akin to real life? It’s ironic, it’s sexy, it’s provocative… it’s Gucci Core. And we love it.
Credits:
Images courtesy of Gucci
Words: Cable Writers
