Is it a rebirth or just a very expensive walk of shame? That’s the question hanging in the air after Demna—the designer who famously made us crave mud-caked sneakers and leather trash bags—finally staged his first full runway show for Gucci. It was a cold Friday in Milan, and the atmosphere inside the Palazzo delle Scintille felt less like a traditional fashion show and more like a high-budget fever dream. The space was filled with replicas of classical statues from the Uffizi, but they weren’t there to be worshiped. They were there to be ignored, or perhaps to bear witness to the end of “Quiet Luxury” as we knew it.
For those who haven’t been keeping track of the revolving door at Kering, the timeline has been a bit of a whirlwind. After Sabato De Sarno’s quiet, refined tenure ended abruptly a year ago, Demna stepped in with a lot of noise. We’d already seen a glimpse of his vision back in September through a star-studded short film called “The Tiger,” but the runway is where the real work happens. And “work” in Demna’s world often looks like a beautiful, chaotic mess.
Key Takeaways
- Demna’s debut runway show for Gucci, titled “Primavera,” marks a sharp pivot from his predecessor’s minimalism toward a gritty, body-conscious aesthetic that blends Tom Ford’s 1990s sex appeal with underground “Maranza” street culture.
- The Fall/Winter 2026 collection features “palette cleanser” basics—skintight white dresses, muscle tees, and branded thongs—designed to strip the brand back to its core before rebuilding its cultural relevance through provocation.
- By moving away from intellectualized fashion and leaning into “see-now, buy-now” commercialism, Demna is attempting a high-stakes financial and creative rescue for Gucci following a significant sales slump in 2025.
The Palette Cleansers and the Morning-After Swagger
The show opened with what Demna called “palette cleansers.” Imagine models walking out in skintight white minidresses and muscle T-shirts that looked like they’d been slept in and thrown on in a rush. It was blunt. It was almost aggressively simple. You could hear the collective intake of breath from the front row—a mix of Paris Hilton, Donatella Versace, and even Alessandro Michele himself. It felt like a direct response to the “Ancora” era of the last two years. Where there was once deep oxblood red and perfect tailoring, there was now a “walk of shame” vibe that felt a lot more honest.
This obsession with the raw and the unrefined is classic Demna. He’s stripping away the artifice, much like the way we’ve spent years debunking beauty myths—like that old wives’ tale about how shaving makes your hair grow back like a wire brush. It doesn’t, of course, but the stubble just feels coarser because it’s a blunt cut, much like these clothes. It’s a “shaved-head” approach to a heritage house: getting rid of the fluff to see what’s actually underneath.
Demna isn’t trying to give you a history lesson, even though he cited Botticelli’s Primavera as an inspiration. In fact, he’s doing the opposite. He explicitly told the press that he doesn’t want Gucci to be intellectual. He wants it to be a feeling. And that feeling, apparently, is a mix of high-society “sciura” elegance and suburban “maranza” grit. It’s a weird cocktail. You’ve got Kate Moss closing the show in a glittering gown that plunges low enough to show off a branded GG thong, while other models are wearing sagging pants and slouching with a kind of defiant boredom.
The Return of the Tom Ford Ghost
You can’t really look at this collection without seeing the ghost of Tom Ford. If you close your eyes and ignore the heavy-duty streetwear influences, the silhouettes are pure 1995. We’re talking about that specific brand of Italian sex appeal that made Gucci a powerhouse decades ago. Skintight black slacks, sheer fabrics, and hosiery used as clothing.
But Demna is Demna, so he’s not just copying the past. He’s “hacking” it, just like he did with that Balenciaga collaboration a few years back. He’s taking those sleek, body-con codes and rubbing them in the dirt. There’s a tension here that’s hard to ignore. Is he honoring the brand’s heritage, or is he using it as a stage for his own brand of irony?
The “Primavera” name is a bit of a trick. Usually, spring implies something soft and blooming. This felt more like a thunderstorm. The use of AI in the lead-up to the show—those “Created with AI” images on Instagram—already had people on edge. It felt like a warning that the “new” Gucci wasn’t going to play by the old rules of craftsmanship and “handmade” storytelling. It’s faster, louder, and frankly, a lot more commercial.
The Stakes of Being “Senseless”
Let’s be honest: Gucci is in a corner. Sales were down nearly 20 percent last year. The brand needed a jolt, and Demna is essentially a human defibrillator. By opting for a “see-now, buy-now” model for parts of this collection, Kering is betting that people want to buy into this vibe immediately. They don’t want to wait six months to look like they just left an underground club in Milan.
There were moments in the show that felt genuinely beautiful, like the asymmetrical white dresses that draped like modern marble. But then there were the “senseless” moments—the oversized shades that covered half the face, the chaotic mix of faux furs and neon. Demna is leaning into the idea that Gucci should be about excess and contradiction. It’s about “hate and love, triumph and defeat.”
It’s a risky move. For some, the lack of traditional “luxury” in the basics—those plain tees and leggings—feels like a step backward. But for the younger crowd that Gucci is desperate to win back, this bluntness is exactly what they’re looking for. It’s fashion that doesn’t take itself too seriously, even when it costs a few thousand dollars.
Is This the Future We Wanted?
As the lights went down and the statues were left in the dark again, the mood was one of cautious optimism. Or maybe it was just shock. Demna has successfully scrubbed the slate clean. He’s moved away from the romanticism of Michele and the minimalism of De Sarno. He’s given us a Gucci that is raw, sweaty, and very much alive.
Whether this “Primavera” leads to a long summer of success for the house remains to be seen. The clothes are definitely wearable—almost too wearable at times—but they carry that unmistakable Demna edge that turns a basic garment into a cultural statement. He’s betting that we’re over being “elegant” and ready to get a little “vicious” again.
The collection is a lot to digest. It’s a lot of “Gucciness” filtered through a lens of 2026 cynicism. But in an industry that has felt a little too safe lately, maybe a blunt start is exactly what was needed to wake everyone up.
What do you think of the new direction? Does Demna’s “Primavera” feel like a fresh start for Gucci, or is the 90s nostalgia starting to feel a bit thin? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Are you ready for the return of the branded thong, or should some things stay in the archive?
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Sources:
- www.wallpaper.com/fashion-beauty/gucci-aw-2026-demna-debut-runway-set
- www.wmagazine.com/fashion/gucci-spring-2026-demna-designer-debut-milan-fashion-week-photos
- www.apnews.com/article/gucci-fashion-week-demna-premiere-d7399ab3f4deaf4cbdc352a6024eda2f
- www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/feb/27/demna-brings-sexy-back-reinvigorate-gucci
