Gucci. Fall 2026 - Milan Fashion week

 

Can Demna Gsvalia's backlash and anthesis novelty, whc guided his tenure at Balenciaga for a decade, work with Gucci?  And yes the question will continue to be asked until, we see otherwise, and so far the jury is still out with Kering's, Gucci's holding company, share price still down over 10% year-to-date.  And the other question/s, or it may actual relate to the first in a paradoxical way.  If Demna strips back his postmodern stylizations that made Balenciaga, the quintessential luxury brand, look like that back alley, Eastern European, 1990s underground raver, odd fitting looks, and make them cool at no less than $2000 USD.  Would that not disappoint the many, many, buyers in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo who got what Demna was doing?  Or, will we see a many Asian style knock offs surface from the ashes of Demna's Balenciaga? 

So, gone are the wartorn looks, scuffed and dirty looking sneakers, those raggedy street wear styles and the pop-culture backlash, replaced by a slicker, dare I say, Tom Ford esque inspired stylizations ala his iconic time with Gucci from 1994 to 2004.  Demna well and truly maybe backpedalling what made him interesting, and attentive as a designer.  And for Milan Fashion week, he has staged his first runway show for Gucci, Fall 2026, titled "Primavera" which actually means Spring in Italian, was held at the Palazzo delle Scintille, designed by architect Paolo Vietti-Violi and opened in 1923, it was, although not designed for, a fascist  centrepiece, and famously held the Mussolini's 1934 speech, "Italy's Right To exist".  Where have I heard that phrase before, with another country's title, in the last three years, in our renewed effort to stored the ghost of fascism throughout the world?

And Demna, who is no stranger to controversy, even with his subtle and not so subtle attempts at causing a stir while he was with Balenciaga, has recopied the Uffizi Gallery famous statues (greatly admired by Mussolini and Hitler, when he visited the Gallery in 1938), as a overshadowing backdrop, while the runways models walked in their modernist strides, with Demna's defined, yet rigid inspired looks, one does not correlate too much.  But, hey, the imagination can work itself into many possibilities, and this collection is very dynamic shift away from Demna's postmodernism past, let's face it.

The latest collection from Demna is certainly rigid, even militaristically tuned within its sleekness and intensity.  It's not a striking array, but a steadfast imprint via Demna, as he reasserts his fixture as the new designer of Gucci, decimating all of Alessandro Michele quirky and ethereal flows, and replacing it with his direct,  strength through superior 'futurism' tailoring, stern overtures.

Proto-fascist styling anyone?

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(A.Glass 2026)