GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP via Getty Images
Demna Gvasalia was named artistic director of Gucci a year ago, after a notable stint at Balenciaga.
“What a lamentable turnaround! » This is a very harsh criticism for Demna’s first show at Gucci, appointed artistic director a year ago. The presentation of his first collection for the Italian house, this Friday February 27, was probably the most anticipated moment of Milan Fashion Week. Excesses are assumed there. Very skinny pants rub shoulders with very short skirts and very low waists, like Gucci from the 90s.
But the Georgian designer’s choices were not to everyone’s taste, starting with PETA. “After championing textile innovation and introducing a ban on wild animal skins at Balenciaga, Demna sold his soul for a flashy title and now parades dead snakes and crocodiles on the Gucci runway”wrote the nonprofit dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals. And added in his press release: “A spectacle worthy of repelling anyone with a conscience. »
A criticism far from timely barely two weeks after the publication of the annual results of the Kering group, undermined by the poor performance of Gucci precisely. The group has suffered sharp declines for three years now, and Demna was responsible for relaunching the company.
Gucci a retard?
PETA adds: “His brand now lags behind forward-thinking companies like Chanel, Victoria Beckham, Hugo Boss, Burberry and many others, who have turned their backs on a greedy and cruel industry that decapitates lizards, inflates live snakes with air, drives metal rods into the spines of crocodiles and slits the throats of young ostriches. »
The association also specifies that these “materials” are banned from London and Copenhagen Fashion Weeks. “If Demna wants Gucci to stay relevant, he needs to ban all these bloodstained items immediately”warns PETA.
In addition to these denunciations, the show promised by Demna was able to surprise more than one. By returning to the time when Tom Ford was artistic director of the house, he played on eroticism or the sensual, an area that he was able to explore during his career. At the end of the show, Kate Moss appeared with a dress with a very (very) plunging back neckline, revealing a thong with the “GG” logo. A return of the string dress is part of the radical shift which had, at the time, redefined the identity of the house, as noted Elle.
