Gucci FW24: the triumph of the cliches

The FW24 collection became the third overall and the second ready-to-wear designed by Sabato De Sarno, so we have enough to conclude whether a new Gucci has come into its own. The answer is, no, it has not — and this is already completely obvious. It is also absolutely clear that if there is anything worth discussing in connection with the new collection, it is the reasons for this creative ineptitude.

Let's face it — there is nothing especially wrong with what De Sarno does. The collection is quite professionally done and even has some spunk — it would be perfect for some purely commercial brand that doesn’t pretend to be formative to fashion. Had De Sarno joined Gucci after Frida Giannini, all this would have been ok, but he replaced Alessandro Michele, who led a fashion revolution, shaped contemporary fashion in the categories that have become common now, and turned Gucci into the flagship of this revolution. Thus De Sarno came to Gucci at a high point in its history — yes, not at the very peak, but still in a strong position, and that was the challenge that he failed.

What did we see on the runway this time? Micro-overalls and micro-shorts, voluminous pea jackets, coats, or cardigans, worn without any bottoms — all this either with high boots or with huge platforms (which de Sarno, apparently, decided to make his own signature piece). Micro something with big heavy long coats and trenches, slip dresses, with or without lace, with or without a slit, but still with the same high boots. Knitwear and coats trimmed with something like shiny Christmas tree tinsel or shiny sequins — and this hanging shimmering tinsel was, it seems, the only novelty of the new art director. Everything else in this collection felt completely blurred with the previous one — and which is more important with many others made by other people.

Then again, we have seen this shiny Christmas tinsel many times already in Dries van Noten collections — also on the same big, long coats. We saw these high boots, even with similar panties/mini shorts and cardigans in the legendary Prada FW09 collection, and these slip dresses with contrasting lace came directly from the Phoebe Filo’s collections for Celine SS2016. And that would have been fine if Sabato de Sarno placed all these references inside some original concept of his own, processed them through some kind of his own vision, and embedded them in his own aesthetics. But even if he has certain skills, on which his career has clearly been based, he has no vision and no idea of Gucci as a cutting edge fashion brand.

So, what have we here? There is a set of fashion cliches, inside of which you can find all the current trends, assembled and arranged quite neatly. There is a rather emasculated sleek look that looks like an attempt to eliminate Michele and revive Ford. There is an established and quite spectacular color palette with a predominance of saturated red, green, terracotta, and mushroom hues. Altogether, there is a deeply derivative but well put together commercial collection, in which Gucci undoubtedly places great commercial hopes — arguably, quite legitimate. However, there is nothing in this collection that defines fashion, gives us a vision of ourselves in today's world, captures our mind, and makes our hearts skip a beat. Then again, perhaps Gucci’s ambition does not extend that far—or at least it doesn’t at this moment. Perhaps  glamorization of style over substance will become a new fashion reality — but should that happen, we’ll hope that it won’t be for long.

Text: Elena Stafyeva