Gucci's new era is a family affair Demna has unveiled his new vision for Gucci in a surprise announcement

Everyone was waiting for it, and finally it arrived. Demna's first collection for Gucci was not presented with the classic show (for that, we'll have to wait until February) but with a film that will be shown to the press today and a lookbook titled "La Famiglia". With Demna's usual ironic flair, the lookbook is presented as a series of framed portraits, each dedicated to an Italian archetype that is stereotyped just enough to be, in fact, authentic: anyone who works in the rarefied worlds of fashion, art, design, or anyone who is simply rich enough has already seen these characters wandering through Montenapoleone, across the dancefloors of La Boum or at the restaurant of Casa Cipriani. On paper, it's about sprezzatura and unattainable refinement, but the photos and especially their titles instead showcase the complacent irony of a reality amplified through the lens of humor. Gucci has returned to being real.

Individually, the garments are very classic, presented with Demna's volumes and attitude, and with styling that is both elegant, delightfully camp and swaggering with a very Tom Ford-esque mischief, though softened by a narrative framework that is not serious but rather that of a sparkling comedy. It is no coincidence, then, that the new collection is literally presented within a series of frames—elements that emphasize the new context in which these looks are placed. The frame makes the picture: an operation particularly aligned with Demna's mindset, who over his ten years at Balenciaga has been adept at guessing what makes the brain of a generation like ours tick, one that is chronically online.

It is therefore no surprise that the collection reached the public via Instagram this morning, immediately visible and available (and shareable). Of course, as a first collection, Demna's stylistic elements are many, but there is a sense of a step forward—no tracksuits or sneakers, no allusion to the "kitsch of the peripheries", no maranza, no babushka heading to the supermarket. Beyond the garments that have always been well-made at Gucci, regardless of the era and creative director, the truly important change here is the lighthearted note on which the collection moves, whose looks cannot be scrolled through without at least a slight smile. A collection that immediately makes one notice, first and foremost, how necessary a bit of healthy vivacity, a touch of brio was to let the legendary Florentine brand breathe a little.

This leads us, crucially, to ask: is humor what today's fashion is missing? The ability to make people smile is, after all, nothing other than the ability to entertain. And Demna understands that today, one thing is the fashion that only a very few can afford in stores, and quite another is the fashion we can consume with our eyes, share in Instagram stories commenting "100% me" and that then creates the general narrative, in popular terms called the phenomenon, which ultimately persuades the final customers. More than the new era of Gucci, which with Demna seems to be in safe and trusted hands, this collection seems to indicate to fashion that not taking itself too seriously is the right way to move forward.