The invitation arrived as a brass key in an aged leather sleeve, a nod to the Gucci Galleria, the members-only salon hidden above the Fifth Avenue flagship in the ’80s, accessible only to those who knew where to look. For ‘GucciCore’ the maison’s Cruise ’27 collection, Demna is asking the same question the House has always asked in New York: who gets to be Gucci? His answer, it turns out, is everyone.
The show turned Times Square into its stage. Not ironically, not as commentary, but as a genuine love letter to the city that gave Gucci its first home outside Italy back in 1953. Before a single look hit the runway, the billboards ran a mock reel of Gucci-branded everything: Gucci Gym, Gucci Pets, Gucci Automobili, a fictional Palazzo Gucci hotel.
What followed was a wardrobe cross-section of New York as it actually exists, not as fashion imagines it. Stockbrokers in pinstripes, skaters in soft tailoring and slouchy denim, women in shearling coats worn with the kind of carelessness that takes decades to learn and socialites in column gowns. It was the cast of a city, dressed for their actual lives.
Reversible technical coats sat alongside plush leather stoles, form over function but not without a wink at practicality. The Web stripe, a House signature since the ’50s, became a bandeau top: one of those reductions that feels obvious in retrospect. Alta moda pieces arrived in croc-scale sequins and beaded fringe, extending a sense of occasion into menswear without feminising it. The Horsebit turned up as a stirrup on heeled boots, giving the iconic motif a somewhat more practical use.
As for the accessories; bags came in inky tones and jewel patinas, wristwatch clutches had timepiece straps and stilettos had metal tips — all details that felt specific and considered.
GucciCore is the fourth chapter in Demna’s ongoing character study, following La Famiglia, Generation Gucci, and Primavera, and it’s the most legible yet. The thesis is simple: a permanent wardrobe that is unmistakably Gucci without requiring the wearer to perform it. Clothes for the version of the city that exists, not the one that used to.
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