Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[tourbillions]

Demna is an incredibly talented designer, much more than some of his stuff at Balenciaga would let us believe I think he will be intelligent enough to do something that will work at Gucci. I'm only doubtful in his ability to be sensual, and sexy, which I think is key to Gucci's success to some extent. Alessandro wasn't sexy but it was opulent and baroque. Demna's Balenciaga which I loved until about 3/4 through was conceptual and cold and often cynical. We'll see.

In what reality will someone sooo talented choose to push out collections like that instead of proper couture-level propositions?

Not like Balenciaga doesnt have the budget.

 

[fashionisnotfunanymore]

I was never a fan of Frida's Gucci. Not the way I dress, not the way I wanna be dressed. Up or down. But reading some comments/posts here, it seems her work was absolutely horrific or tedious to die. Don't think so. It was just not my thing but I can't say it was bad. Why didn't those losers at Kering hire Pilati by the way ? He is still 'available' or am I really living in some sort of a cave? Would have made some more sense than Demna. Would have brought more fun while keep it hi-class.

Uh oh… be careful, praising women designers on tFS these days is a provocative move. Godspeed. They just get jobs because of their ovaries and uteruses, dontcha know?

Frida was a fabulous designer (didn't say she was great). She succeeded earlier, but the lucrative target group was shifting intergenerationally to Gen Z, which later AM was able to capitalize on because he was at the right place at the right time.

 

[penny609]

Frida was a fabulous designer (didn't say she was great). She succeeded earlier, but the lucrative target group was shifting intergenerationally to Gen Z, which later AM was able to capitalize on because he was at the right place at the right time.

She sort of was. I guess she still is. Some kind of a fab designer. Again, her work was just not for me but I recognize she handled well what she was doing. She was good at what she was good at.

Still, it strikes me as some sort of a funny thing when people talk about Gen Z. As if it was a bad thing or so. (I don't say you meant this at all, it's just something I often see/read/hear, here and there, just feeling too many people think of an entire generation as a bunch of soul-less morons... Strange). It just makes me think about how bad some people of my own generation are ageing.

 

[fashionisnotfunanymore]

She sort of was. I guess she still is. Some kind of a fab designer. Again, her work was just not for me but I recognize she handled well what she was doing. She was good at what she was good at.

Still, it strikes me as some sort of a funny thing when people talk about Gen Z. As if it was a bad thing or so. (I don't say you meant this at all, it's just something I often see/read/hear, here and there, just feeling too many people think of an entire generation as a bunch of soul-less morons... Strange). It just makes me think about how bad some people of my own generation are ageing.

We might be aging, but they have no idea how good of time we had. By contrast, I pity those who come after us. It baffles me how Balenciaga became relevant again with those obscene sneakers and how Demna kept his job after those exploitative ads. The latter statement might contradict my admiration for Tom's Gucci ad with the shaved G, but it was done so tastefully and did not harm anyone.

Overall, I viewed most current designers as wannabes of people they very much want to disrespect.

 

[penny609]

We might be aging, but they have no idea how good of time we had. By contrast, I pity those who come after us. It baffles me how Balenciaga became relevant again with those obscene sneakers and how Demna kept his job after those exploitative ads. The latter statement might contradict my admiration for Tom's Gucci ad with the shaved G, but it was done so tastefully and did not harm anyone.

Overall, I viewed most current designers as wannabes of people they very much want to disrespect.

Yes, indeed we lived a few things that seem nicer than most happening right now. I can even recall my late father asking himself how "people can still feel allowed to give birth to children in a world like nowadays". Though, everything hasn't turned that bad, even if it's getting seriously worrying on many fronts, in several places...

And no, I don't see any contradiction between the fact one may love Tom Ford's Gucci stuff and utterly dislike (the word might be weaker than my thoughts) those Demna craps. There seems to be a whole world in between to me. And as you said : TF's Gucci shaved G didn't hurt much other than blatant puritans.

Third point : yes, a lot of today's designers are just wannabes. Wannabe what - I don't even know or understand. They don't even have a single inch of Franco Moschino's wicked and twisted ideas, they don't own a tad of Pilati's class. They want us to believe they're the new version of Margiela but forgot to hide away. And, most obnoxious of it all : they try so hard to remain the talk of the town the day after the party's over. Kinda pathetic.

 

[LadyJunon]

We might be aging, but they have no idea how good of time we had. By contrast, I pity those who come after us. It baffles me how Balenciaga became relevant again with those obscene sneakers and how Demna kept his job after those exploitative ads. The latter statement might contradict my admiration for Tom's Gucci ad with the shaved G, but it was done so tastefully and did not harm anyone.

Overall, I viewed most current designers as wannabes of people they very much want to disrespect.

Yes, indeed we lived a few things that seem nicer than most happening right now. I can even recall my late father asking himself how "people can still feel allowed to give birth to children in a world like nowadays". Though, everything hasn't turned that bad, even if it's getting seriously worrying on many fronts, in several places...

And no, I don't see any contradiction between the fact one may love Tom Ford's Gucci stuff and utterly dislike (the word might be weaker than my thoughts) those Demna craps. There seems to be a whole world in between to me. And as you said : TF's Gucci shaved G didn't hurt much other than blatant puritans.

Third point : yes, a lot of today's designers are just wannabes. Wannabe what - I don't even know or understand. They don't even have a single inch of Franco Moschino's wicked and twisted ideas, they don't own a tad of Pilati's class. They want us to believe they're the new version of Margiela but forgot to hide away. And, most obnoxious of it all : they try so hard to remain the talk of the town the day after the party's over. Kinda pathetic.

Honestly, I think that it's a mix of an extremely insular POV mixed with an awfully large ego and a lack of any sort of nuance.

They want to be Tom Ford, but they lack any concept of emotional intimacy. They want to be Margiela, but they're unable to see the joy and romance in the everyman. They want to be Miuccia, but they don't have a drop of humour or wit. They can't even dare to approach the likes of Dries, because developping such of worldview requires looking beyond A24 movies.

They make all of these allegories, but they never hit, because they seem to shed any sort of humanity whenever they do so. It's tiring.