London calling: Gucci Londra Cruise 2025

For his third outing for Gucci - his debut cruise collection and his first show outside of Milan - Sabato De Sarno took the fashion crowd back to the Maison’s London roots.

Gucci is one of the powerhouses of Italian fashion. However, its history started in London, where the house’s founder Guccio Gucci was working as a luggage boy at Hotel Savoy at the turn of the 20th century. It’s exactly there, that the young fashion entrepreneur had a brilliant idea to start his own luggage company in Florence. And the rest is history.

So when the current creative director Sabato De Sarno announced that his first Cruise collection would be shown in Tate Modern in London, nobody took it by surprise. A few days before the show, typical London-style icons like Little Simz and Kate Moss teased the show on Gucci’s social platforms. Indeed, who else can incarnate London in such an iconic way? Sabato De Sarno posted a video, as well: a mash-up of his favourite “real life” London moments, saying “For all the times you opened my views on the world. For all those who felt the same way in London. Let’s celebrate.” And so he did, inviting his guests to Tate Modern’s concrete halls, embellished with plants, moss and all types of greenery for the occasion (no worries, all of them will be donated after the show to local community projects).

Models marched in baggy jeans styled with sharp blazers and crispy white shirts to the piercing sounds of a remix on Blondie’s timeless “Heart of Glass”. The lead vocalist of the band, Debbie Harry was in attendance, of course, and a brand new Blondie bag was dedicated to her. Elsewhere, star front-row included Kate and Lila Moss, Demi Moore, Dua Lipa, Solange Knowles, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Mescal, François Civil, and Mark Ronson - aka the man behind the all-mega Gucci soundtracks in De Sarno era; if Mina’s hit song Ancora is on your playlist, its thanks to him.

On the catwalk, there was also a lot of brown suede, flats with punkish studs, pearls and micro-shorts (Sabato’s favourite, a signature seen in all of his three collections for Gucci). And one couldn’t help but notice the Gucci red looks - the colour between cherry and burgundy, which has become the icon of Sabato De Sarno's tenure at the house, seen everywhere from shopping bags to key accessories. Sheer pussy bow blouses were also in abundance - wait a minute, is it a flashback to the Michele era? The show notes said romance, so I guess they played the part of “romanticwear”. But probably, the evening looks were the most powerful, think delicate organza tops and dresses in ivory embellished with daisies, lousy evening gowns styled with extra large leather jackets and cocktail dresses adorned with fringes of beads that looked like London raindrops.

The evening continued in the Turbine Hall, showcasing the words of Mustafa the Poet in white lettering, that covered the floor, transformed into dancefloor. London is all about energy of the young, so even the fashion students were invited to party IRL (they watched the show at the cinema, though). The fashion rave ran until very late with DJ sets by Arca and Ronson himself, only leaving us all to guess who Sabato designs for? Will Gucci’s parent company Kering give him a chance? So far the results have not been very optimistic (the sales have dropped by 20% in the first quarter of 2024), the stakes are high and the brand needs another “Michele” miracle... And, finally, who will be wearing all these minimalistic and wearable clothes that look chic but don’t have a very pronounced identity yet? Hopefully, by the time this groovy collection hits stores in early November, we will be seeing more Gucci red shopping bags, and given the soaring luxury price tags, at least in the hands of tourists walking the streets of London, Paris, New York, or Rome.

Courtesy: Gucci

Text: Lidia Ageeva