It bothers me that older journalists are being well… kind of …bullies about Sabato de Sarno at Gucci.
What I see is actually an aesthetic, I want to be the cool girl
wearing daisy jeans with an oversized shirt.
So what is Gucci’s new allure ? Well… It’s kind of effortless. It’s a bit nonchalant. It’s a bit naughty.
No one is letting or giving Sabato de Sarno a chance to ease into the job and do a collection. Tagwalk specialises in runway analysis and we have well over 300 000 active users and millions of data points … let me give you a breaking news : people are searching high for Gucci (+144%) and let me give you a little secret:
the biggest metric to see if a collection is successful is to see if designers are searching for a specific brand - do you know why ? Because luxury and mass market work together hand in hand. Yes, Inditex might (let’s be honest .. will) get inspired by Gucci’s Cruise collection, but once mass market does it, that’s also when the luxury brands start selling even more to the wealthier 1% of the population.
And that’s when Gucci becomes a trend.
Trends feed trends.
In this fashion ecosystem, you have designers such as Alessandro Michele who will impose their vision so strongly that it becomes a bit like marmite : you either love it or hate it . (FYI, I love it)
You then have designers such as Hedi Slimane at Celine, Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, Sabato de Sarno at Gucci : they create a sociological way of dressing.
You know how I know ? Because as much as you can hate something … numbers don’t lie. They really don’t. Hedi Slimane, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Sabato de Sarno : they’re doing the job, and they’re doing it pretty well.
I could write about all of the ones that don’t do the job (if I have the numbers of those that perform well you can imagine that I also I have the ones of those who don’t…) but we’re here to talk, read, dissect and discuss Gucci.
Was the cruise show perfect ? No, it wasn’t. Did I like the suedes? No I didn’t. Did I like the ballet flats? No either.
But I loved (loved loved) the denims, the skirts, the embroideries, the colour palettes , the tennis socks, and black high loafers, the music, the jewellery. It just felt right.
It’s no secret Kering has been in a bit of a turmoil recently - new hires, the old guard has left, it’s a bit .. messy ? Q1 numbers were bad. They really were bad! But Sabato de Sarno has only just arrived, give the guy a break! What do you associate burgundy with? Gucci! What do you associate the patent skirt of the oversized hoodie to? Gucci! He's slowly creeping with the big ones, creating a silhouette that goes beyond the runway show.
Sarno has recently been joined by Stefano Cantino who will be great at giving him direction and guidance. He’s also surrounded by Jonathan Kiman who’s vision and marketing skills compete with no other in the sector and Sarno has something else: a younger audience that actually LIKES what he designs.
I really don’t like this side of the industry where old journalists decide to all « not approve » of something and then people all follow and they kind of gang up.
Sabato: you do you. You do your cool girl. I liked it. And I want to buy it.
