Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

How much was Imran paid to write that article? His news website was always the first one to rip Kering off 😂 the irony!

Also, it seems like he really reeds TFS. Many of the insights he gave were written here way before…
EXACTLY! was saying the same thing too.

HI IMRAN! dont be shy join us here :band: :band: :band:
 
EXACTLY! was saying the same thing too.

HI IMRAN! dont be shy join us here :band: :band: :band:
Come on, I don't believe that Demna or Imran haven't seen the posts here :D Or at least, somebody from their circles must have...
Maybe this is the only and actual platform to really express their dislike for the people/companies they work with :D #spies
 
If demna really reinvents his aesthetic, make his gucci but still gucci, them I'll eat my words. He would be the first one to break the one trick pony karma.

As much as I despise the cynical veener he puts on his clothes, I still think he is a good designer. I want to know what was the deal that he signed. The ceos are crazy but even they know demna can't bring his pack of zombies to gucci.

Demna 's designs can be highly silly but a lot of what we hate about his Balenciaga is related to packaging.
 
Come on, I don't believe that Demna or Imran haven't seen the posts here :D Or at least, somebody from their circles must have...
Maybe this is the only and actual platform to really express their dislike for the people/companies they work with :D #spies
some of kering/lvmh/otb people read a lot of stuff here and it shows :zorro::zorro::zorro::zorro:
 
I predict he will do something "unique" and "different" for his first show (or two) but then the executives won't give him enough time for the products to resonate and start generating sales, so they will pressure him into doing the same merch that he was doing at Balenciaga in order to generate a immediate boost in sales, and then he will get stuck in the t-shirts and track suits pattern again within a year.

If Kering wants him to truly do something new and exciting, they need to give him space and time to do it. And I'm talking a few years. Not a few seasons.

Unfortunately though, they are on the decline and in a weak position in the market, so that will not happen. They are expecting a billion uptick in sales immediately so they can appease the shareholders. Add to that, the success of Balenciaga and Bottega in September (with new visions) is going to weigh heavily on everyone. Creativity will not be on their minds this year - it will be sales, profit margins, cost-cutting etc, etc. Don't expect anything revolutionary or interesting at Kering this year - they are simply not in the position.

It's a nightmare situation at Kering to be honest.
 
Demna is obsessed with Margiela, to the point I think he believes he is Margiela.
What did he do at Vetements? Margiela. What has he done during all his tenure at Balenciaga? Margiela.

Expecting him to do something different is like believing in Santa Claus. He really does not care about designing at all. Remember when he said he was going to change his way, after the Balenciaga pedo scandal?? Did it happened?? NOPE!

Then there is the taste part. He has no taste for sophistication, luxury and glamour (which is part of Gucci´s DNA). How is he going to follow those codes, when he is totally unable to create something beautiful?? He lacks any sense of refinement. His brain is coded to only be interested in SKIDROW hobo looks; and so far he has shown he is unable to think outside that box he is in.
 
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What does it say when they
1) renew Demna at Balenciaga in November
2) boot Ancora in February, barely two months later,
3) and hire Demna at Gucci at the same time ?
Why the complications ? They could have fired Ancora and hired Demna as soon as November, if they were really that excited to bring Demna in Florence.
Does that mean that Demna was good enough for Balenciaga but not for Gucci last November ?
I don’t buy their reasoning, to me it reads that they couldn’t find an external hire and pressured Demna (and certainly Anthony too) to get the job at the last minute, and as the last resort.
 
What does it say when they
1) renew Demna at Balenciaga in November
2) boot Ancora in February, barely two months later,
3) and hire Demna at Gucci at the same time ?
Why the complications ? They could have fired Ancora and hired Demna as soon as November, if they were really that excited to bring Demna in Florence.
Does that mean that Demna was good enough for Balenciaga but not for Gucci last November ?
I don’t buy their reasoning, to me it reads that they couldn’t find an external hire and pressured Demna (and certainly Anthony too) to get the job at the last minute, and as the last resort.
1000000%

Makes no sense. I’m sure Hedi was negotiating and of course they could not reach an agreement.

Also, as Jeanclaude said, it’s very hard to imagine him doing something different. No designer has ever done something different (maybe just Phoebe Philo).

Galliano is Galliano, Raf is Raf, Theyskens is Theyskens, Nicolas is Nicolas, Tisci at Burberry was still him even if a very boring version of him…

You can’t do something you are not. It’s just impossible. If he does it will be just… forced. And forced things are always a catastrophe.
 

Gucci’s new designer needs to prove everyone wrong​

Demna’s provocative work for Balenciaga rubbed many the wrong way. But he could offer a struggling fashion house a jolt of the rude energy it needs.
March 15, 2025 at 8:30 a.m. EDT
Analysis by
Rachel Tashjian

The roles at fashion houses change so often that hardly any new hirefeels shocking anymore. But “shock” is the only word that can describe the reaction to Gucci’s decision to appoint Demna — the provocateur who remixed the global wardrobe of sweatpants and T-shirts into luxury staples and made Ikea totes into $2,000 it-bags at Balenciaga — as its new head designer.

Comments on fashion publications’ Instagram posts announcing the appointment are burning with ire: “NO PLEASE!” “why god why” and “RIP GUCCI” were just a sampling of the thoughts on Vogue’s account. “Cryin in a brutal way” read a caption on a TikTok of Demna designs. “Everybody’s pissed that this guy is going to Gucci,” said one TikTok explainer.

The general dismay spilled far beyond the musings of the commentariat class. On Friday morning, shares of Kering, which owns Gucci and Balenciaga as well as Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and McQueen, fell by 13 percent in Paris. The company was on track for its worst day in almost a year, Reuters reported, a surprise given that Kering has been in financial free-fall, with its sales declining 12 percent in the final quarter of 2024. Kering, of which Gucci comprises nearly half of sales, has been in such dire straits that it abruptly parted with previous creative director Sabato de Sarno in early February. De Sarno had been tasked with bringing Gucci into a world of quiet luxury following the wild and, at times, commercially resistant work of Alessandro Michele (now at Valentino), but his vision failed to gel for customers and critics.

Demna — born Demna Gvasalia in Soviet-era Georgia, but now known officially by his first name only — is certainly a departure. His designs have long been controversial and conversation-starting, including a collection of menacing “power suits” shown in a United Nations-esque room, a runway partially submerged in water that felt like a confrontation of fashion’s Titanic-like hubris, or a show staged in a violent snow globe shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that, depending on whom you asked, either empathized with or exploited the invaded country’s pain.

But following the scandal around a pair of unrelated photo shoots that seemed to make allusions to the sexualization of children, Balenciaga began to lose steam. (Balenciaga’s financial performance is not broken out in Kering’s reports but grouped with McQueen under the category of “Other Houses.” Sales of that division were down four percent in the fourth quarter of last year.) Lately, Demna’s shows have seemed frozen in a mode of cynical, even nihilistic commitment to sweatpants and unappealing suits. Do we really need or want our clothes to tell us that wealth and power are dumb and ugly?

The Gucci news was so rattling that it upstaged Thursday morning’s announcement of Donatella Versace’s retirement. The audaciouslyblonde designer succeeded her brother Gianni after his 1997 murder and emerged as one of the few household-name garmentos. She will become “chief brand ambassador” — a title usually reserved for celebrities contracted to wear a house’s clothes on the red carpet, although Versace was always her label’s best cheerleader.

Dario Vitale, a secret weapon behind the viral sensation (and Prada brand) Miu Miu, will now lead design. That marks an exciting change: Versace can sit front row as her fabulous self, while a creative with an eye for remixing vintage can breathe new life into a brand that invented fashion as popular culture by figuring out the right sensational celebrity (Madonna, J. Lo, Beyoncé) to wear the right sensational dress. This announcement comes just days after Jil Sander, the minimalist house which, like Gucci and Versace, hosts its runway shows in Milan, appointed Bally’s Simone Bellotti as its new creative lead. Milan Fashion Week will be a hot ticket come September.

But what to make of this Gucci surprise? Kering’s deputy chief executive, Francesca Bellettini, suggested in her statement that Demna’s pop cultural resonance made him the right choice:

“Demna’s profound understanding of contemporary culture, coupled with his extensive experience in conceiving visionary projects, has established him as one of the most influential and accomplished creatives of his generation,” she wrote. “His appointment as Artistic Director is the perfect catalyst to reignite Gucci’s creative energy.”

Still, Demna has got his work cut out for him. Even his supporters — who rightfully recognize him as the most innovative and influential designer of his generation — feel his work has become stuck or dated. In choosing Demna, Kering is, perhaps admirably, choosing risk and provocation. Hedi Slimane made it rain at Celine with his crisp bourgeois designs, and former deputy designers from Prada were frequently mentioned in gossip columns.
In these conservative times, that boldness is to be celebrated. But Demna will need to find a new language, and consider whether the world is ready for designs that many see as cynical or blindly commercial. He will need to prove everyone wrong — and that would be thrilling to watch.

THE WASHINGTON POST
 

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