The luxury brands travelled through Europe to stage their supersize Cruise collections…
GUCCI TAKES LONDRA
The label returned to its London (yes, really) roots
IN THIS POST-BREXIT world, it’s been a while since one of luxury’s behemoths has chosen London to stage a Cruise show. Originally designed as a tool to sell midseason collections to wealthy women who need a winter sun wardrobe, Cruise shows are now ostensibly an exercise in showing off the luxury house’s scale and ambitions – hence brands favouring booming markets of Asia and the Americas.
But if eyebrows were raised at Gucci’s decision to take over the UK capital for creative director Sabato de Sarno’s first Cruise collection, he had a simple answer: Londra is where the house began.
Fashion legend has it that it was when a young Guccio Gucci was working as a porter at The Savoy hotel, he was inspired to return to Italy and start a line of luggage that has today become one of the biggest luxury brands. Which is why on a decidedly unglamorous Monday night, scores of guests strode out of Guccio’s red lacquered lift that still operates in The Savoy and across the river Thames to the Tate Modern to watch de Sarno’s ‘homecoming’ of sorts. London’s great and good joined them. Kate Moss made it a family affair, bringing her daughter Lila and boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck. Actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones had a Normal People reunion under the giant glitterball that dominated the dance floor. Footballer Leah Williamson ditched her Arsenal kit for some tailored denim, before taking her place on the front row next to Andrew Scott and Little Simz. Demi Moore had even brought her chihuahua, Pilaf.
If Cruise is about hype, then the crowds showed Gucci had won before the show had even begun. But it’s also about sales. And, less than a year into his reign, with parent company Kering having issued a profit warning last month, the stakes were high.
Yet, as the models began snaking through the hundreds of plants that had been brought into the Tate’s cavernous Tanks, there was no sign of sweat. The look that said it best was perhaps the low-slung jeans, half-tucked white shirt, capaciously large shoulder bag and ballet flats – the Gucci London woman was relaxed and ready for the day, come what may. Loads of denim, canvas oversized bombers thrown over slip dresses and a section of long, slinky black dresses gave the collection a grounded, wearable feel. Hardwear-embellished loafers, worn with a sporty sock, and net shopper bags had that killer combination of being easy to wear and instantly cult.
But, perhaps aware that some of de Sarno’s early critics have felt his shows are too pared back, there were newer elements of romance and playfulness alongside his characteristic
