Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[reese06]

"See now, buy now...please we beg of you, pretty please!!"

It reeks of desperation.

I mean they are in a weird position. They have so many seasons of merch where people know Demna is coming so people prob are weary of buying the interim collections.

The strategy makes sense to me since they didn’t plan the exits and announcements in what I believe was the best way

 

[fashionmarketeditor]

but they already showed a Fall collection this year, so Demna’s debut will be a second fall collection? I think it makes more sense that he’ll show a SELECTION of see-now-buy-now pieces, like how they showed the Giglio bag for Cruise as see-now-buy-now.

 

[tourbillions]

can't believe mcgirr is the least offensive appointment at kering. and i guess SL is their main brand now.

 

[FashionPower]

but they already showed a Fall collection this year, so Demna’s debut will be a second fall collection? I think it makes more sense that he’ll show a SELECTION of see-now-buy-now pieces, like how they showed the Giglio bag for Cruise as see-now-buy-now.

That FW collection was made by the studio, they could scrap that anytime if Demna and the suits don't want to push it.
Remember what happened to FW23 and Cruise 2024 in Seoul show by Davide Renne? Scrapped as soon as Sabato joined the company.
Also remember that nowadays the shows are more a PR stunt to flaunt celebs endorsements rather than showing items you will have to opportunity to buy in store 6 months later...
They will most likely release the bags and few basic merchandiseable items from the studio collection to fill the empty slots left in some store.

 

[FashionPower]

can't believe mcgirr is the least offensive appointment at kering. and i guess SL is their main brand now.

Not at all actually.
Despite the super strong hyper glamazon brand image perception Vaccarello is trying to convey, people are not buying it...you know, his vision is really off putting and also extremely difficult to pull off for average sized women: skycraper high unwalkable heels, ridicolous oversized power suits, garish colors combination...it's a stunning proposition runway wise but translates terribly on the street / office.
Gucci is still the top player and by far amongst all the other brands in the portfolio.
If YSL didn't have the Cassandre logo bag lines, it would generate even less revenues than a C-list brand from LVMH like Berluti.

 

[PDFSD]

with this short turn around how can it be anything other than a continuation of Gucci x Balenciaga.

i get what your trying to say but its an different part of his style code we will continue to see.

Gucci x Balenciaga : the concept is different The Hacker project was more balenciaga logo into gucci gg and on gucci acc and a odd rtw here or there.
Gucci x Balenciaga: gucci part was selection of demna items done in Gucci & Alessandro colors or prints like flora.

Demna´s Gucci: is like his last Balenciaga with the title Exactitudes ( cosplay of realities ) i am sure his (september) Gucci will pick up on this further but in a Gucci context .( Italian & Gucci cosplay of realities ) (ancora was also very much about gucci as italy as they (CEO & Owner) will want to pit it as the BIG italian brand&culture house versus LV the big french brand&culture house)

Beside his Margiela 2.0 The Exactitudes idea (by the dutch photographer Ari) have played a role for years in his concept of collections.

He even admitted/mentioned in his last press statement of the last balenciaga rtw collection.

It's like when Hedi continued with first Celine show where he left off at YSL.

Phoebe from Chloe to Celine is the only one i can think of that did a real 360 change from one brand to the next day 1.

 

[FashionPower]

I also got HUGE Gucci by Balenciaga / Balenciaga x Gucci / Hacker Project vibes from this latest see now buy now stunt.
I guess they are fine with their first release if Demna manages to show a decent looking avant garde / fashionable sneaker (all Gucci sneakers models currently available scream "Burberry chav" or "basic guy with no fashion knowledge willing to flaunt 1k worth of shoe") and some merchandiseable item (hoodies and outerwear with a new approach on the GG monogram.
I am thinking of Demna's own version of the Lallo's flashtrack sneakers and the GG x North Face collab...it's not gonna be Vaccarello hyper polished and focused brand image, but it might generate some buzz. Also look at YSL now, after almost 5 years of very formulaic design approach by Vaccarello the brand is becoming stale and spenders feel alienated.

 

[jeanclaude]

I mean they are in a weird position. They have so many seasons of merch where people know Demna is coming so people prob are weary of buying the interim collections.

The strategy makes sense to me since they didn’t plan the exits and announcements in what I believe was the best way

The problem is that "see now, buy now" feels very fast-fashion...and they are trying to get Gucci back in the luxury-leader bandwagon...but well, it´s Kering (meaning they are going to do ANYTHING for money, even if it ruins the brand´s image).

 

[reese06]

The problem is that "see now, buy now" feels very fast-fashion...and they are trying to get Gucci back in the luxury-leader bandwagon...but well, it´s Kering (meaning they are going to do ANYTHING for money, even if it ruins the brand´s image).

I doubt it’s a long term strategy for rtw and bags , etc because it’s not sustainable but it makes sense for this collection. I guess we will have to wait and seez

I think the see now, buy now was a good thing for that handbag they just launched. It’s summery, and I personally saw more positive media about it than I did most things Gucci when Sabato was there.

I think it will depend on what the collection looks like and it’s likely to only be select pieces that they know will sell, limited I assume

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

They are forced to do "see now, buy now". It is the only way to leave behind quickly the current state of Gucci.
Whatever may come after Demna, it can't be worse than this.

Says the corporate logic 🤭

 

[PDFSD]

BUSINESS FINANCIAL WWD

Magic vs. Logic: Analysts Get Creative and Start to Weigh In on Designer Appointments​

The financial types are inching into territory that was once just the province of critics and fans.
ByEVAN CLARK

JUNE 13, 2025, 12:21PM​

Demna KUBA DABROWSKI /WWD

Fashion with a capital F has always had its tribes.

There’s the design crowd, where aesthetic is king and people ooze with personality.

Then there’s the more buttoned-up business side that lives and dies by the spreadsheet and ups and downs of the market.

Of course, that oversimplifies things and there have always been crossovers who naturally think with both their right and left fashion brains.

But the people who really get both the dollars and fashion sense of the industry are rare.

Many — most? — people have only a vague understanding of what the other is really up to.

So there’s a kind of truce that’s held, with the fashion folk holding tight to their mood boards and the finance gang following their tickers.

But that delicate peace has been rattled.

Financial analysts are increasingly weighing in — not just on sales and profit margins or even stores and product, but on the design talent pulling together the vision.

They are now more actively picking design winners, not just market share winners.

Jonathan Anderson got the thumbs up when he moved to Dior at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

“Anderson has a strong track record from his time at Loewe — one of the top-performing brands at LVMH’s fashion and leather in the past few years,” said Jelena Sokolova at Morningstar. “It is a positive that he’ll be the sole creative director of Dior, where priorly creative director roles for menswear and womenswear were split. This should help Dior create a more consistent brand representation and improve its stance amongst peers.”

Likewise, HSBC’s Erwan Rambourg, said: “We remain believers that ‘Dior is not the next Gucci.’ We trust that with Jonathan Anderson running the creative show there is more poetic positive potential than risk. We expect the brand to rebound starting from Q2 2026.”

But true to form, it was Demna who was there right on the edge when Team Design and Team Dollar started to clash more this year.

Demna is loved by the fashion crowd, from his conceptualist streetwear at Vetements to his willingness to shake up everything at Balenciaga (even if dancing on the edge meant sometimes falling over it, with kids posing alongside handbags that looked like stuffed bears dressed in bondage).

For the analyst types, that controversial, zeitgeist-grabbing approach was fine and good for Balenciaga. But bringing all of that to Gucci — Kering’s now underpowered powerhouse — was just too much.

“At this stage, the announcement brings as much risks as opportunities,” said Carole Madjo, an analyst at Barclays, pointing to Demna’s “bold and sometimes controversial aesthetic.”

Bernstein’s Luca Solca rated the Gucci appointment a five out of 10 and said, “We are not sure that Demna measures up to the task, nor that he is the right fit for Gucci at the moment, but we understand their risk-minimization strategy: going for the well-known.”

Not everyone who understands how to discount a cash flow was up in arms, however.

“Demna leading Gucci should drive commercial, cultural and artistic impact, which could support [long-term] growth,” said Oliver Chen at TD Securities in a research note in March. “Demna has the potential to be a great leader for the next era of Gucci.”

The question is: Who has the right to declare that Demna or Anderson are right or wrong for their new jobs?

Wall Street has had its say. Critics and the chattering masses on Instagram will have another chance to weigh in as the designers’ first collections hit the runway.

And shoppers will get the final word when the looks finally go up for sale.

Where you stand might depend on where you sit.

Fashionistas want excitement, a chill down the spine, elegance or some aesthetic that will move the great project of design and culture forward.

The business side wants dollars and cents and efficiencies, great machines made up of human capital and intellectual property to create the value that everyone along the way taps into to pay for those Hamptons summers.

The equity analysts weighing in on design are doing their level best to get their brains around the whole of the enterprise, to understand how it all works to see if it will succeed.

“The framework is, there’s magic and logic, but you want some logic that helps support the magic,” said TD Securities’ Chen in a follow-up interview. “For analysts to be good at this, it’s slightly a balance of pattern-hunting plus being forward-thinking about change in art and culture and also juxtaposing that with logic around merchandising policies and then making a forecast.

“What analysts try to do is understand the biography of the creative,” Chen said. “Basically, you look at the past. For me, it’s OK, I understand some of Demna’s product attitude and I understand what Gucci needs. If anything, the Balenciaga story has been around innovative experience and excitement.

“If you’re not relevant, people don’t necessarily want to pay extra,” he said.

And to work, from any perspective, luxury always requires something a little extra, designers have to deliver and shoppers have to pay.

It’s that friction, that need to satisfy the demands of both art and commerce, that keeps fashion exciting.


The Bottom Line is a business analysis column written by Evan Clark, deputy managing editor, who has covered the fashion industry since 2000. It appears periodically.

 

[hamburgers]

Not sure what his official involvement is until after his last couture show, but the copy for this is very Balenciaga ad

 

[reese06]

Thats AI, not Demna. That copy is atrocious and phoned in.

 

[FashionPower]

Very Demna coded indeed but almost every brand is jumping on the AI bandwagon nowadays...

 

[tourbillions]

already annoyed of his gucci. its giving "how can we use ai in fashion"

 

[PDFSD]

apparently him and his brother made up they are friends again.
Guram was in town for secret meeting for some italian brand to be creative director

( lol yes i don't make this up )

 

[Olaffo]

Guram was in town for secret meeting for some italian brand to be creative director

Call the priest, we must exercise all Italian HQ’s!

 

[dieinmytabis]

Demna has ruined Balenciaga and he will ruin Gucci too.

 

[IndigoHomme]

apparently him and his brother made up they are friends again.
Guram was in town for secret meeting for some italian brand to be creative director

( lol yes i don't make this up )

The Gallagers of fashion attack again

 

[PDFSD]

The Gallagers of fashion attack again

If the white dust don't get them first 🤐