5 memorable moments from the Gucci Cruise 2027 show Demna brings the Florentine fashion house to the heart of New York

Anyone who knows Demna, recognizes him. And that is why the Gucci Cruise 2027 collection, staged on Saturday night in New York in the exact center of a Times Square besieged by crowds, felt so reminiscent of the techno-dystopian landscapes, full of screens and skyscrapers, that Demna has so often explored during his years at Balenciaga. A fascination with monumental places, synthetic and dark, that seem straight out of Blade Runner, as if it had swallowed the entire brand.

As for the collection, inspired by the people one might encounter walking around New York, Demna wanted to return to the idea of reflecting on the runway the people who wear Gucci in real life, a concept that influenced both the casting and the design, which focused on further defining the idea of a Gucci essential wardrobe that would be “Gucci” in its deepest essence.

Here are the 5 things to remember from the Gucci Cruise 2027 show.

1. The obsession with archetypes

Lately in fashion, a series of words and concepts referring to the idea of archetype, of a primordial model, of a return to original principles, are being used to verbally program audiences into identifying what is seen on the runway as canonical and definitive “classics”. A kind of appeal to authority, if you will, but also an attempt to bring clarity to a world where everything seems the same. This brings attention back to pieces that are everyday not because they are too casual, but because they are those great classics worn every day without excessive design twists. The archetypes everyone knows, in fact.

And given that Cruise collections are usually the more accessible and commercial ones, Demna not only titled this one “GucciCore” almost to claim authorship of a style that is now easily recognizable even in the new brand, but also wanted to «create an essential wardrobe composed of timeless pieces that form the foundation of the Maison’s stylistic language: the perfect double-breasted coat, the classic trench, the suit, the essential shirt, the quintessential pencil skirt, all accompanied by elements of Italian glamour and elegance».

2. The parody of extreme commerciality

Before the show, the brand takeover of Times Square screens displayed a series of advertisements halfway between real and imaginary which, as the brand has already done in the past, placed the Gucci logo on everything: from plausible products (Gucci Underwear and Gucci High Jewelry, which do exist, but also Gucci Automobili and Gucci Travel, which would be luggage) to more unlikely ones that still wouldn’t surprise us, such as Gucci Gym and the fake hotel Palazzo Gucci, and even reaching distopically late-capitalist products like Gucci Pets, Gucci Water, and even Gucci Life, a fictional line of longevity supplements. Not too unlikely, considering the brand had previously created an Oura Ring years ago.

On paper, this series of videos, some of which even looked AI-generated although there is no confirmation, aimed to portray Gucci as an ethos and aesthetic identity. Knowing Demna, it would not be surprising if the real explanation was a kind of meta-parody of the modern luxury obsession with putting logos on everything and presenting oneself as a specialist in any field or product on which a logo can legally be placed.

3. Demna’s characters

The collection tells a story of a «plurality of styles» reflecting the many people one could truly encounter in New York. And Demna knows something about America, given that he currently lives in Los Angeles and works from there, absorbing and reinterpreting the aesthetic favored by the highly influential American clientele. The fascination with synthetic and artificial beauty, the constant seduction of the intersection between elite and underworld, the portrayal of an unnatural wealth that makes faces become unnatural, with nothing sunny, smiling, or generous about it, are unsettling yet very honest elements of today’s world.

These figures blend, in his vision, with the cast of characters the designer likes to be around: an assortment of silicone-enhanced bombshells and baddies with smoky eyes and tiny dresses; wealthy agé ladies dressed in fur coats and miniskirts; overly attractive and ambiguous ephebes in glasses and gray consultant suits; street toughs with visible boxers and crossbody bags; and even statuesque beauties wrapped sometimes in black leather and sometimes in vertiginous fur coats, like those of Tom Brady and Mariacarla Boscono.

4. A world in black

Since Demna joined Gucci, he has brought with him a style that is very popular among young people today, namely total black. Of course, the collection cannot be said to be entirely black, but apart from occasional reds and denim, the only real two color notes in the entire show were a small coat with Flora print and Paris Hilton’s look with that decorated shirt-dress, one of the designer’s favorite designs, which he has refined over many years.

But among the screens and suffocating chaos of Times Square at night, the tone of this collection also felt particularly nocturnal and dark. In fact, it has been since before 2020 that Demna has not presented a collection in daylight, but only at night or under artificial lighting. This contributes to giving the brands he directs both a sense of glamour and a harsh, if not dark, aura, where smiles, if not excluded, appear bitterly sardonic, and a spontaneous sense of joy and cheerfulness seems decidedly out of fashion.

5. Tube tops

The only recurring element in recent Gucci by Demna collections, and something that seems to greatly interest the designer, is a particular model of tube top that, in different forms, tightly wraps around the shoulders of the wearer without allowing much movement. We have seen it padded and monogrammed, made of leather or fur, and in this show also as a red-and-green band covering the bare chest of one model or “holding” an oversized black shirt in place on the chest. An extremely versatile yet curious element, the most radical introduced by Demna so far, which seems poised to become the true signature of his Gucci.