Gucci, the Cruise 2025 fashion show at the Tate Modern
Sabato De Sarno returns to the origins of the fashion house founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Guccio Gucci. From Victorian to contemporary London, mixing aesthetic codes on the catwalk of Gucci's Cruise 2025 collection.
Everyone knows that Gucci is an Italian fashion house, but in reality its roots are London. Gucci's founder, Guccio Gucci , opened his first G. Gucci & Co store in 1921, at the age of 40, in Florence. However, Guccio used to repeat to his children that the foundation of Gucci dated back more than two decades. When at the age of 16, against the wishes of his family, he went to London. He had no money and spoke no English. However he found work as a doorman at the Savoy Hotel . In that place, the first of its kind built in London, Guccio meets aristocrats and artists, opera singers and captains of industry.
By studying the way of life of these people, he manages not only to create objects that last over time and adapt to their needs, but to create objects that have their own uniqueness and a precise aesthetic code. «We'll always have London» , reads the title of Gucci's Cruise 2025 fashion show. A return to the English capital strongly desired by the creative director Sabato De Sarno. Which after his debut last September with spring summer 2024, will present his first Cruise fashion show .
The show takes place on the theme of dichotomies: rigor and extravagance, solidity in delicacy, British style with Italian echoes. Tailoring goes well with workwear, streetwear with evening wear. «By subverting them, we used the codes as a tool of provocation» , creative director Sabato De Sarno tells us. Like the short outerwear in technical gabardine, juxtaposed with motifs that draw wild chamomile stems on the clothes, embroidery made in laser-cut organza with manual assembly or in hand-shaped sequins that move freely around the body. And then chiffon, ruffles, lace.
And there is no ready-to-wear without denim. Sabato De Sarno opts for a baggy cut that ends on ballet flats and creepers - the designer embraces balletcore, in contrast with the high platforms of the "Ancora" collections. The symbols of British style - tartans, sartorial tradition - and Gucci emblems are reimagined, infused with new energy for a new generation, a different time. «Inspired by the Italy of the early 70s» , the Gucci Blondie bag , in leather and canvas «contrasts preciousness and utilitarianism: worn on the shoulder, its emblematic logo is covered in leather or applied with a technique borrowed from Gucci jewellery» .
