{"id":234599,"date":"2026-05-17T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/234599\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T16:46:09","slug":"the-gucciness-of-gucci-takes-over-new-york-with-cruise-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/234599\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gucciness of Gucci Takes Over New York With Cruise 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNEW YORK \u2014 Gucci<\/a>\u2018s artistic director Demna<\/a> loves a challenge, and on Saturday night, his ambition came to life in New York\u2019s most bustling location: Times Square.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTimes Square, that was a bit of a crazy idea,\u201d Demna<\/a> told WWD during a preview ahead of his first cruise<\/a> show for the Italian luxury house. Recalling that he \u201calmost chickened out\u201d after arriving in New York nearly two weeks ago and sauntering through the famous billboard-clad, tourist-crazed area, he noted that he and his teams were up for the seemingly impossible production.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI always wanted to do a show in New York, like in the stock exchange; it\u2019s something I did with my previous showing [for Balenciaga resort 2023]. I thought, I\u2019ve done a show in New York, the one I wanted to do, but then when we\u2019re talking about the show now, I thought, \u2018Where do I do it now?,’\u201d he recalled. \u201cOut of the blue, I said, \u2018What about Times Square?\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the first show in my career that I will not have a rehearsal for,\u201d he explained of the complex process, including working with the city to secure permits, having mere hours before showtime for installations, forgoing a formal run-through in the venue and keeping the 9 p.m. cruise<\/a> show location under wraps for security measures, to name a few. Times Square is as busy at 1 a.m. as it is at 11 a.m., certainly on the weekend, after all.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe idea was to actually come to Times Square because it\u2019s symbolic. It\u2019s iconic, it\u2019s New York, but it\u2019s also a set design already. My idea was to actually use the screens of Times Square as the backdrop of the runway,\u201d he said, hinting at Saturday night\u2019s pre-show installation displayed on the large scale digital billboards.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut his decision to debut his first traveling cruise show in New York following his debut fashion show in February in Milan, and his Times Square location, spoke to his broader, ongoing study of the \u201cGucciness of Gucci<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gucci<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGucci Cruise 2027<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGiovanni Giannoni\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI felt outside of Italy, because the cruise shows are always going somewhere, and it\u2019s kind of obvious to go to New York, but for Gucci it\u2019s kind of necessary. To me it became a global brand from the moment they opened the store in New York,\u201d he said of the house\u2019s boutique opening on Fifth Avenue and 58th Street in 1953 \u2014 it\u2019s first major brick-and-mortar expansion outside of Italy. He continued that this was where the international perception of the Gucci brand really started \u2014 not in Los Angeles or London, but New York.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that learning about the store\u2019s Apartamento Gucci top floor for VICs, who were given golden keys to the elevator \u2014 which his cruise show invitations were a nod to \u2014 played into tying the history of Gucci with his vision today.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOnce you were a VIC client, they would give you this access, and you could buy everything. They had furniture, art, painting, sculptures. It was really very tasteful. I felt that was so Gucci in itself, so it was kind of obvious to do it here. And also, because America is so important outside of the history,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tCertainly, America has become an important market for luxury houses, as seen through this season\u2019s Dior outing in Los Angeles on May 13, followed by Gucci\u2019s and Louis Vuitton\u2019s runway shows in New York this week, and soon, Herm\u00e8s and Zegna\u2019s debuts, back in Los Angeles, in early June.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the American customer in mind for cruise, Demna explained that his, \u201cresearch into the Gucciness of Gucci is probably climaxing in this show.\u201d The collection serves as a culmination of the separate studies he undertook in his first three outings, first in his debut \u201cLa Famiglia\u201d series of archetypal characters for spring 2026; his pre-fall dive into the Tom Ford Gucci era, and fall\u2019s continuation with a sexy study of the body and lightness.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018La Familia\u2019 was really a study of Gucci pre-fashion \u2014 the [Dawn] Mello era, the \u201970s, the Jackie and the classicism, because for me it was necessary. I didn\u2019t know about it myself, so I needed to. That was one segment,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other one was Generation Gucci collection within pre-fall, which was a lot about the era of Gucci that had an impact on me, which is Tom [Ford\u2019s] era, right through my lens, because a lot of the things were not really archival pieces, we had to create those things.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThen \u2018Primavera,\u2019 which was very much going into the area that I\u2019m not really acquainted with, which is the body conscious, sexuality, sex appeal through clothes,\u201d he said. \u201cHere it\u2019s basically the combination of all of those, because to me, Gucci is not one of either of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast September, the artistic director told WWD he was taking \u201cbaby steps\u201d to reset the perception and understanding of what Gucci is through his reinterpretation. This next step for cruise was combining his deep study of Gucci\u2019s history while fully introducing a major new pragmatic category: Gucci Core.<\/p>\n

\n\tHeading into the season, Demna said he forwent mood boards and inspirations, and instead focused on key items that everyone should have in their wardrobes \u2014 and preferably from Gucci. In that vein, he explained that cruise is made up of 90 percent Gucci wardrobe staples \u2014 key classics the brand was seemingly missing, and 10 percent more seasonal, fashion-forward styles to complete the wardrobe.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes people say, \u2018What is Gucci about that, or what is Demna about that?\u2019 Here, it is the combination of these ingredients, and on top of that, there is the collection that I call Gucci Core, which is an important part of the Gucci aesthetic \u2014 wardrobe, which currently we don\u2019t really have, in a way,\u201d he said of filling this gap with the perfect peacoat, pussybow blouse, cropped leather jacket, etc.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was really defining those elements, and I approached this collection as a merchandiser more than a designer. I didn\u2019t have a mood board. I really wrote down the words trenchcoat: do we want it or do we not?\u201d he said of making a list of products that construct the idea of the ultimate core Gucci wardrobe, which the brand has a consumer for, but up until now, not as much of an offering, he explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tDemna added he saw resort as an opportunity to add these crucial elements into his study of who the Gucci crowd is today \u2014 not only who wears the Florentine house\u2019s clothes, but how they wear them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI kind of needed to do that also as a study of Gucci myself to not only remind people of what Gucci is, because there was a very confused idea of Gucci I feel like in the couple of last years. But also to create a platform or a base on which now I can also build my silhouette, my Demna Gucci architecture of that silhouette,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore broadly, the strategy directly aligns with Kering chief executive officer Luca de Meo\u2019s strategy<\/a> for the Gucci renaissance.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a three-and-a-half-hour speech at\u00a0Kering<\/a>\u2019s Capital Markets Day in Florence in April, de Meo spoke at length about reigniting the desirability of Gucci, which contributes up to 40 percent of the French group\u2019s sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn one second, you know it\u2019s Gucci, and that does not mean covering the world in GG. Being unmissable can also be quiet, discreet and refined, expressed through craft and identity codes that are immediately Gucci, even when they are not there and they are just subtle. We are activating this renewed identity to a Gucci Vita [Life]. This is our cultural expression that turns codes into culture,\u201d he said last month.<\/p>\n

\n\tFurthermore, the ongoing evolution means reinventing the heritage, rather than preserving it under glass, de Meo explained, with clarity, coherence and modernity and \u201cinjecting newness into our most iconic shapes and signature styles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gucci<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGucci Cruise 2027<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGiovanni Giannoni\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to the ambition to double the contribution of women\u2019s handbags to represent around 20 percent of leather goods sales and grow ready-to-wear and shoes, with refined, luxury essentials, by more than 600 million euros, both by 2030, and jumpstarting jewelry and watches, de Meo said addressing quality and rebalancing pricing are both key.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs reported, Gucci is anchoring the core of its business in a strong midprice proposition between 2,000 euros and 3,000 euros, elevating its top tier with distinctive details and richer materials, and redesigning entry level styles without compromising quality.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile criticism of Demna\u2019s first three collections have been divisive \u2014 which the artistic director said he is used to \u2014 his approach reflects the overall house strategy.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a nutshell, Demna\u2019s aim is to break down the rigidity of fashion by defining what the modern luxury product at Gucci means, with desirable products he describes as FOMO; imbuing lightness into garments \u2014 not for the sake of it, but for practicality and comfort, and overall, cleansing and clarifying what Gucci is through his lens. Building toward his ultimate design-forward, smart Demna-Gucci vision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel like now we\u2019re in the moment in the luxury industry where all the big brands have redefined their identity and who they speak to. At one point, I think post-COVID, everything overlapped. You would not know anymore which brand is which brand, and I feel now we\u2019re starting to see that. And for me, this is exactly what I want to do at Gucci,\u201d he explained of his work to define the brand\u2019s audience, which he believes is broader than many other European luxury houses due to its history.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCulturally, Gucci has touched on the bourgeois segment of social hierarchy, but also it spoke to streetwear people, and at the same time it\u2019s the super high-end and couture consumer. So there is a lot of that,\u201d he said, adding he sees it as an advantage to work as a creative who can create dialogue with Gucci\u2019s wide-spanning customers. \u201cIt\u2019s much easier for a brand that has much more of a monotonous customer, which you know a lot of big brands are. Gucci is really a very wide spectrum of consumer or potential consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Iman\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIman<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLexie Moreland\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tHe noted that holding a show in New York also legitimized his approach to cruise \u201cin a way, because it\u2019s very pragmatic, it\u2019s [the city] about really studied clothes. For me, Gucci, as well as the idea of American fashion, is very pragmatic. It\u2019s very consumer-oriented; there is no fantasy land behind it. In Europe, we have a lot of that. In Italy, different ways than in France, but it kind of gave me an alibi to do the show here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring his two-week trip to New York \u2014 one of his longest visits in recent years after a quick two or three day jaunt for the 2024 Met Gala \u2014 the artistic director said his vision for cruise paralleled the pragmatism of real New Yorkers, who certainly need clothes to carry them from mornings into late nights.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were projecting on what our idea of New Yorkers are while we were doing this lineup, and I have to say, since I\u2019m here, I see a lot of these people on the streets, so I\u2019m very happy that our projection made sense, because of this consistency of dress codes. In Europe, we don\u2019t see business guys in their suits with a backpack; here, all these commuting businessmen, they have it. We had it [in the lineup], and now I see these people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring his visit, he saw his customer shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, but also carved out personal time for book and vintage shopping at Manhattan\u2019s Dashwood Books and Brooklyn\u2019s appointment-only High Valley Books.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s by appointment, and the guy who owns it \u2014 it\u2019s in his house, and there are books everywhere,\u201d he said of the latter. \u201cYou have to walk sideways, but he has the most unbelievable selection of books and magazines. He has art, architecture, a lot of fashion, Japanese streetwear and a lot of weird items, like a file folder I got of Diana Vreeland\u2019s. I left with two boxes of books \u2014 I love books and buy so many. I have a huge library, so it\u2019s the only thing I really shop for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDemna explained that two times a year \u2014 his research weeks \u2014 he spends time scouring through these photography and art books, sometimes 300 at a time. \u201cIt\u2019s like watching 300 movies, I love it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis keen interest in the arts \u2014 including the Italian Renaissance, art history and certainly media and film, as seen through his short film \u201cThe Tiger,\u201d which premiered during Milan Fashion Week last year, and his Gucci Generation pre-fall 2026 look book images, which Demna photographed himself \u2013\u2013 plays a significant part in extending his vision of Gucci.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe idea was to really build the lineup as almost like a movie of New York characters walking down Times Square wearing a Gucci wardrobe without being a classic wardrobe,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tCertainly there were luxe, strong visions of the wardrobe on the runway, but with hints of edge melded with signifying codes like the web, the\u00a0interlock, the GG, the Flora, the bamboo, the bit and the Jackie. Furthermore, it was about putting the styles together in a way that becomes fashion for every type of customer, rather than addressing wardrobing as boring classics.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI want in every show that I do to speak to a different variety of people in different ways. Also this show, I feel like it\u2019s kind of a completion of that reset in some way of Gucci as a brand and it allows me and gives me a platform to build my version of Gucci, which is more personal,\u201d Demna said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that it doesn\u2019t consider all of these elements. It is because it\u2019s a platform on which I want to build it, but this is more where I start to bringing Demna into this conversation. A little bit already in the show, but I wanted it to be a bit more gradual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gucci<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGucci Cruise 2027<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGiovanni Giannoni\/WWD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Gucci\u2018s artistic director Demna loves a challenge, and on Saturday night, his ambition came to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7439,28638,28639,28679,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-234599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cruise","tag-demna","tag-gucci","tag-kering","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}