Only one show mattered at the latest Milan Fashion Week. After months of anticipation and years of crisis management, Gucci, the legendary Italian luxury house, brought spray-on skinny jeans and seamless mini dresses to the catwalk in a bid to reinvent its brand.
The latest push is a crucial one for Gucci and Kering, its parent group, whose operating profits have slid by two-thirds in two years. But it also comes at a moment of truth for the industry as a whole. Big Luxury, for years one of Europe’s best performing sectors, is trying to find its way again after its post-pandemic boom turned sour.
As Gucci’s first models came down the runway at the Palazzo delle Scintille in bandage dresses, logo tights and bareback attire cut far below the waist, there was a collective intake of breath. Could this really be the answer to the travails of one of the biggest names in the business?