Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[JohannesL]

If he dares to pull gimmicks like a tribute to Ukraine show for his Gucci debut with a different country this time that the whole world is talking about even though it means challenge the ruling elites, he is going to make the world talk about the show and him to generate the buzz for the brand. Otherwise, I really don't see he is going to reinvent himself as far as I canremember, he does have a talent for holding a good show.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Loving this shade from Frida!

 

[justpassingthrough]

Lmao @ “someone has to say it” as if she has some kind of hot take

 

[proseccotabis]

wow Frida has no chill we love that!!!

 

[tourbillions]

im very very surprised how so many insta gays are trashing balenciaga right now. I thought his cult was strong enough to carry this transition.

Well deserved anyway... he had 1 or 2 good seasons where he actually offered witty and fashionable collections then it became trollenciaga. Sadly i think he is quite serious about it too and probably thinks he is the 2nd coming of moschino with his "wit"

 

[Lola701]

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…

Except for the dramatics and his last show, I actually think that what John did at Margiela was still John but much more different from his Dior and even his own line. I think Theyskens’s work for Nina Ricci and Rochas were somehow fairly different. I think NG is different at Vuitton than at Balenciaga. Tom Ford was different at Gucci and Saint Laurent. Karl was different at Chanel and Fendi, Vaccarello is different at YSL than at his own brand….etc.

For me, there are really 2 one trick ponies in fashion.

The key is to find the right angle.

For me Gucci has to present an extreme luxe image in order to get to good grace even if the products are still accessible.

I’m not sure irony will work at Gucci.

wow Frida has no chill we love that!!!

They fired her and her husband. Her assistant took over and never recognized her contribution. She better keep that energy for Kering all her life lol.

 

[JohannesL]

@Lola701 Lola, do you know why they fired both of them? I remember reading somewhere at that time it seems to be a matter of conflict of interest since they were partners at that time. How did Gucci perform under their creative andbusiness leadership? They did remind me of designers back in the days having their partners running their business.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

For me, there are really 2 one trick ponies in fashion.

And in September we will see if they become three.

 

[Lola701]

@Lola701 Lola, do you know why they fired both of them? I remember reading somewhere at that time it seems to be a matter of conflict of interest since they were partners at that time. How did Gucci perform under their creative andbusiness leadership? They did remind me of designers back in the days having their partners running their business.

No. In France and Italy, the corporate culture is not the same as in Anglo Saxon countries. They both are in position of power so the dynamic is different. The relationship between De Marco and Giannini wasn’t the direct issue even if it may have played because he ended in December and she was supposed to leave Gucci after the FW15 show. Gucci stopped growing and Frida clashed with Bizzarri who replaced her husband so she left and they terminated her contract.
She enjoyed a great sense of freedom before Bizzarri.

 

[Blaiseybabey]

im very very surprised how so many insta gays are trashing balenciaga right now

could somebody give me an elaborate TFS definition of an "insta gay"? Because many come to my head and not sure if my understanding is aligned

 

[PDFSD]

​

susannanicoletti.substack.com​

2025: The Demna Effect Doesn't Exist​

1. The Demna Effect doesn’t exist and the “Rien à Voir” mood of the industry

There was a sort of religious wait for the Gucci designer announcement, a liberating moment when the most loyal press, analysts and shareholders could take a breath and say “Great choice! Gucci is back”.



The night before I was working on a project following a day of calls with Milan for some urgent adjustments to be put in place asap and as usual and I continued to receive messages from many friends “it’s Zambernardi”, “it’s Hedi, for sure” and at a certain point everybody started to write me “it’s Demna”. I didn’t write about it even if it was certain, I don’t care about scoops, and I don’t look for these news.

I am never impressed by these present creative directors because I find that, with the exception of Jonathan Anderson who I find very close to Karl Lagerfeld somehow, they are inconsistent and volatile, able to jump on their own taste and making it an obligation for a brand that has nothing to do with it.

Generally speaking, we are living in a “Rien à Voir” age.

• The designers have nothing to do with the brands they work for. Very often they also live far away from the offices and HQ, they don’t know the people working with them and they don’t care about anything but their own wealth and well being.
• The design office has nothing to do with the final customer, they don’t know who they are, if lucky they work on fictitious brands personas and they love exchanging messages from their secluded gardens
• The CEO has nothing to do with the designer, they frequently fight with each other, mostly on style decisions on which the boss of the bosses is not knowledgeable. Too often the CEO continues to do the previous job: micromanaging communication or merchandising or buying or finance, lacking the effort to develop an helicopter view. See John Idol vs Donatella Versace as the latest example of this blood bath impacting hardly on the brands robustness.
• The supply chain directors are wild and free in the Far West and nobody can control them.
• The marketing has nothing to do with Kotler and Kapferer, they don’t even know who they are
• The HR are just pen-pushers checking entrances and exits of the employees and banning smart working and human working conditions
• The CEOs of the CEOs main job is to still work on the brand they supposedly left and checking employees expenses trying to deny reimburses with the biggest acrimony, imposing performance reviews on which they will never be measured on, instead of setting up the best brand management ever to solve the issues.
• Retail directors have nothing to do with Wholesale directors and, even less, E-commerce and marketplace directors. They just compete with each other for peanuts sales.
• The ownership is busy trying to put their heads under the sand living in denial or to control family dynamics that are unmanageable
• The financial analysts and the overpaid consultants have nothing to do with the reality of the business because they never put a foot on the field. All running here and there like headless chickens (I am quoting a dear member of this amazing community).
• Shareholders just want to make money out of a manufacturing industry that is not scalable like junk bonds and they never learned from Madoff. They have nothing to do with the industry.

So, considering the global situation, we can clearly state that no, there is no Demna effect because he is, like everybody else, totally irrelevant for the business of fashion. His collections will be available in the spring 2026, De Sarno collection rarely hit the shop floor in two years, while mysteriously Michele developed and launched the first collections in a few weeks and it was a “blockbuster”.

In one year the brand and the group risk to disappear.





At this point a doubt: is Kering just taking time and slowing down the already acknowledged downfall and disaster? Is this just a way to distract the attention from the self-inflicted, nosediving business? Are they aware that there is no solution and that the conditions of the group are worst than what it is said?

Just some questions and doubts. There are seasoned top executives in the group, are they unable to manage and drive the business out of the sandpit or are they just consciously putting a patch on an upcoming disaster?

Appointing whatever designer, creating buzz around their miracle balm they can spread all over the brand and reset the sales is not the solution, it’s a further complication.

The Kering drop of the share price has not happened overnight, it’s taking place since years. Now it’s just accelerating because the group is exhausted.





In the past year the share value dropped of around -50%. There is no Demna effect, only distracted management since years.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

Savage.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

I don't know what you think, but I am starting to feel that the future of the group Kering depends greatly of that specific fashion show: the first Gucci by Demna.
It is scary.

 

[Blaiseybabey]

it's just insane to me that Gucci as a brand would become irrelevant or even fail that massively - it's abstract and unthinkable... just like the US-UA negotiations in the White House - that was also unbelievable...until it happened

 

[jeanclaude]

In the early 90s Gucci was in the edge of bankruptcy, just because they made the same kind of mistakes Kering has repeated again (mistakes which were easy to avoid, if you have common sense).

But this time there is no Tom Ford in sight to save Gucci again.

Susanna Nicoletti has common sense. Execs at Kering don´t. No matter how much you insist in trying to distort reality, 2+2 is going to keep equaling to 4; even if you keep stubbornly looking for ways for it to equal to 5.

 

[kingtheyskens]

cataclysmic.

 

[proseccotabis]

​

susannanicoletti.substack.com​

2025: The Demna Effect Doesn't Exist​

1. The Demna Effect doesn’t exist and the “Rien à Voir” mood of the industry

There was a sort of religious wait for the Gucci designer announcement, a liberating moment when the most loyal press, analysts and shareholders could take a breath and say “Great choice! Gucci is back”.



The night before I was working on a project following a day of calls with Milan for some urgent adjustments to be put in place asap and as usual and I continued to receive messages from many friends “it’s Zambernardi”, “it’s Hedi, for sure” and at a certain point everybody started to write me “it’s Demna”. I didn’t write about it even if it was certain, I don’t care about scoops, and I don’t look for these news.

I am never impressed by these present creative directors because I find that, with the exception of Jonathan Anderson who I find very close to Karl Lagerfeld somehow, they are inconsistent and volatile, able to jump on their own taste and making it an obligation for a brand that has nothing to do with it.

Generally speaking, we are living in a “Rien à Voir” age.

• The designers have nothing to do with the brands they work for. Very often they also live far away from the offices and HQ, they don’t know the people working with them and they don’t care about anything but their own wealth and well being.
• The design office has nothing to do with the final customer, they don’t know who they are, if lucky they work on fictitious brands personas and they love exchanging messages from their secluded gardens
• The CEO has nothing to do with the designer, they frequently fight with each other, mostly on style decisions on which the boss of the bosses is not knowledgeable. Too often the CEO continues to do the previous job: micromanaging communication or merchandising or buying or finance, lacking the effort to develop an helicopter view. See John Idol vs Donatella Versace as the latest example of this blood bath impacting hardly on the brands robustness.
• The supply chain directors are wild and free in the Far West and nobody can control them.
• The marketing has nothing to do with Kotler and Kapferer, they don’t even know who they are
• The HR are just pen-pushers checking entrances and exits of the employees and banning smart working and human working conditions
• The CEOs of the CEOs main job is to still work on the brand they supposedly left and checking employees expenses trying to deny reimburses with the biggest acrimony, imposing performance reviews on which they will never be measured on, instead of setting up the best brand management ever to solve the issues.
• Retail directors have nothing to do with Wholesale directors and, even less, E-commerce and marketplace directors. They just compete with each other for peanuts sales.
• The ownership is busy trying to put their heads under the sand living in denial or to control family dynamics that are unmanageable
• The financial analysts and the overpaid consultants have nothing to do with the reality of the business because they never put a foot on the field. All running here and there like headless chickens (I am quoting a dear member of this amazing community).
• Shareholders just want to make money out of a manufacturing industry that is not scalable like junk bonds and they never learned from Madoff. They have nothing to do with the industry.

So, considering the global situation, we can clearly state that no, there is no Demna effect because he is, like everybody else, totally irrelevant for the business of fashion. His collections will be available in the spring 2026, De Sarno collection rarely hit the shop floor in two years, while mysteriously Michele developed and launched the first collections in a few weeks and it was a “blockbuster”.

In one year the brand and the group risk to disappear.




At this point a doubt: is Kering just taking time and slowing down the already acknowledged downfall and disaster? Is this just a way to distract the attention from the self-inflicted, nosediving business? Are they aware that there is no solution and that the conditions of the group are worst than what it is said?

Just some questions and doubts. There are seasoned top executives in the group, are they unable to manage and drive the business out of the sandpit or are they just consciously putting a patch on an upcoming disaster?

Appointing whatever designer, creating buzz around their miracle balm they can spread all over the brand and reset the sales is not the solution, it’s a further complication.

The Kering drop of the share price has not happened overnight, it’s taking place since years. Now it’s just accelerating because the group is exhausted.




In the past year the share value dropped of around -50%. There is no Demna effect, only distracted management since years.

Spot. On.

 

[xodaphne]

I don't know what you think, but I am starting to feel that the future of the group Kering depends greatly of that specific fashion show: the first Gucci by Demna.
It is scary.

Sorry to be rude but why does anyone in this forum care?
If Kering collapses, what have we really lost? A Potemkin village of idiots just trying to mint money however they can off the names of dead couturiers and branding… there’s no vision, no creativity and no allure in any of it so who cares? Let it die…

 

[NoInvite]

If he keep working with himself on the styling it will be a flop for sure.
for me his work stopped being interesting since he Lotta left the crew.
He needs someone to add in a sense of luxury back otherwise it will be this narrow perspective.
I thought his early works for Balenciaga were great.

 

[youthinasia]

I made the mistake of checking the Balenciaga subreddit. The Demna-stans are a bunch of fan boys who have absolutely no idea about fashion history and only know Demna’s Balenciaga.