Incoming trick question: where would someone holding a selfie stick like an Olympic torch and wearing an “I love NY” hoodie still warm from the gift shop shelf, find Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Alix Earle, Willy Chavarria, even Anna Wintour, within the same neon-lit radius on a Saturday night? I know you thought of Times Square and immediately turned down the visual. You should. Unless, of course, it’s Gucci Cruise Saturday. The only night where this exact encounter can happen simultaneously with a Spider-Man asking for $20, an M&M’s Store bag swinging dangerously close to your face, narrowly dodged with a panic-purchased $9 bottle of water. So much for Gucci losing its weird. If nothing else, Demna understands the value of a public hallucination.
With no distance left between fashion and commerce, and the smell of street hot dogs hanging in the air, banners had Gucci written all over them. Half an hour before the show, the LED walls attempted a scenic getaway to nature. Picture golden sunsets, the greenest fields, horses running in slow, AI-generated loops, all politely interrupted by Gucci advertisements. Gucci water, Gucci pets, even Gucci life longevity supplements made it onto the screens. Good thing the Gucci world was separated from the real one by nothing more than black fences. And without warning, everything went pitch black. Seconds later, the show’s opening look appeared live across the surrounding screens, pulling even Spider-Man, still somewhere in the crowd asking for $20, into the brand’s reality.
Demna has a thing for characters, clearly seen in La Famiglia to Primavera, and now in GucciCore. This “core wardrobe” brought out the classics. Suits looked to the Tom Ford era, web stripes to the Alessandro Michele one. Outerwear is everywhere, oversized furs, pared-back trenchcoats, peacoats in English wool, usually reserved for British royalty, or their guards. Denim also found its way onto the lineup, sometimes glazed like a donut, placed between subtle florals and animal prints. As did midi skirts and dresses, with the brightest moment seen on Paris Hilton, her previously unseen brown hair oddly grounding a vivid yellow look.
The cast was unexpected, to say the least. Tom Brady confirmed the “leather for the boys” moment, while Cindy Crawford closed the runway in full feathers, just before Alex Consani appeared looking like a beautiful, slightly unsettling doll. wearing the collection’s star. She wore the collection’s standout piece, a sheer, almost dissolving dress, the kind of fabric that feels like it’s still deciding whether it wants to exist as clothing or atmosphere, layered with an alarming amount of jewelry. And just like that, Times Square went back to selling everything to everyone.
