Pricey BoF Neighborhood,
My preliminary response after I learnt that Demna can be appointed inventive director of Gucci was certainly one of shock. Though Demna’s identify started to flow into as a possible candidate throughout Paris Style Week, I didn’t consider Kering would select him to tackle the problem of restoring Gucci’s trend credibility — and gross sales momentum — in a deeply troubled luxurious market.
After gorging on trend merchandise throughout the pandemic, demand for luxurious trend is waning. Luxurious prospects are more and more focusing their consideration (and their wallets) on journey, eating and wellness. The one option to get them to concentrate to a trend model like Gucci is to supply one thing new and thrilling, one thing that connects with the present second and pushes trend ahead.
Is Demna the fitting particular person for the job?
Judging by the response from monetary markets and trend followers on social media, the reply isn’t any. Kering shares plunged by 12 % on Friday morning after digesting the announcement. Of the greater than 9,000 individuals who replied to BoF’s Instagram ballot linked to the breaking information on Thursday, solely 10 % of you consider that Demna is the fitting choose for Gucci to reassert its trend authority. Sixty-seven % of you suppose that Demna will not be proper, and one other 23 % are usually not certain, preferring to “wait and see.”
However I’ve a unique view. As soon as the information started to settle in, and I had time to course of the feedback made by Kering’s deputy CEO Francesca Bellettini and Gucci CEO Stefano Cantino as to why they, along with François-Henri Pinault, made this selection, their logic started to make sense to me.
Kering wanted a heavyweight identify and couldn’t take one other gamble on an unknown amount.
There are only a few designers with the creativity, technical expertise and confirmed skill to not simply seize however form the style zeitgeist.
Jonathan Anderson is tied to LVMH by way of their funding in his personal model and appears sure at this stage to be headed to Dior, after his farewell Loewe presentation in Paris on Monday.
Matthieu Blazy, whose Bottega Veneta exhibits have been a spotlight at current trend months, left the Kering group final yr (an enormous loss) and is readying his imaginative and prescient for Chanel which can debut in October.
Hedi Slimane has a confirmed skill to remodel and construct manufacturers (Dior Homme, Saint Laurent and Celine), however his days of shaping the zeitgeist are lengthy behind him. Likewise, Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, an unmistakably profitable creator of luxurious merchandise, doesn’t have the requisite trend quotient.
If Gucci wished a clothier with a capital F, then Demna is a practical selection. After 10 years, the as soon as disruptive trend aesthetic Demna dropped at Balenciaga has run its pure course. Balenciaga wants a change and Demna wants a brand new inventive problem, and by putting in the designer at Gucci, Kering can be creating alternatives to deal with different points within the group, whereas retaining a prime expertise.
That Demna is already a part of Kering additionally means there are not any pesky non-compete agreements to take care of, and he can already start to develop his concepts for Gucci whereas he works on his ultimate Balenciaga couture assortment which might be proven in July.
However nonetheless, the success of this technique rests on one essential query. Can Demna himself transfer his creativity ahead?
If Demna merely takes his Vetements and Balenciaga look and implements that at Gucci, it won’t work. Certainly, we already know what that appears like after “the hacker venture” that introduced Demna’s Balenciaga and Alessandro Michele’s Gucci collectively in a vibrant mash-up of their distinctive appears on the peak of their inventive powers at these manufacturers again in 2021.
However there may be nothing that fires up a designer like Demna like the chance to reinvent a historic home like Gucci. I first obtained to know Demna by way of his brother Guram once they got here out from the background of the designer collective at Vetements because the driving forces behind the disruptive trend start-up which BoF was first to put in writing about again in 2014.
Demna has a robust basis of inventive trend training from the Royal Academy of Advantageous Arts in Antwerp, {and professional} coaching at Margiela and Louis Vuitton, the place he labored alongside each Marc Jacobs, after which Nicolas Ghesquière, two prime designers with very completely different approaches to design and creativity on the world’s largest luxurious trend home.
Through the years, I’ve additionally had the chance to get to know Demna as a human being. I interviewed him for a BoF cowl story in 2015 simply after he was introduced as the brand new inventive director at Balenciaga and sat down for a uncommon tv interview with him simply because the pandemic lockdowns have been lifting and he was set to debut his unbelievable first Balenciaga couture present in July 2021.
What I can say definitely is that this: Demna is among the most provocative and considerate individuals working in trend, and is somebody who’s deeply dedicated to his work. Like all of us, he has had his ups and downs, and the Balenciaga PR disaster was a actuality verify for him on quite a few fronts.
Extra just lately, he has been specializing in his personal private wellness and happiness, and I feel he’s now emotionally prepared for one of many largest jobs in trend. If there may be anybody in trend who’s up for this problem, it’s Demna. Now we simply have to attend and see if he can discover it in himself to ship the products. I’m actually excited to see what he does.
We’ve got much more protection on all of the information in trend from the week passed by, together with a particular breaking information podcast episode with Tim Blanks digesting this week’s huge information from Gucci and Versace, along with our at all times common, must-listen seasonal episode reviewing the style season that was. There’s additionally our tackle the Prime 10 Reveals of the Season, a report on the state of the Pat McGrath Labs enterprise and an in-depth case research on how to reach China’s new actuality.
I hope you will discover the time to pay attention, learn and study this thrilling time in trend.
Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Listed here are my different prime picks from our evaluation on trend, luxurious and wonder:
1. Prime 10 Reveals of the Season. Duran Lantink leads BoF’s checklist of greatest exhibits from the Autumn/Winter 2025 season.
2. The BoF Podcast | Tim Blanks and Imran Amed Replicate on Autumn/Winter 2025. BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks and Imran Amed, BoF founder and editor-in-chief look again on the key moments of trend month, from Haider Ackermann’s debut at Tom Ford to Sarah Burton’s first assortment for Givenchy.
3. The BoF Podcast | Demna Takes Gucci, Versace’s New Chapter Begins. As Demna is ready to develop into inventive director of Gucci, and Donatella Versace passes the baton to Dario Vitale after almost three a long time on the inventive helm of Versace, the style trade is bracing for much-needed inventive transformation. BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed and editor-at-large Tim Blanks unpack what this implies for the broader trade.
4. What Occurred to Pat McGrath Labs? The model based by the legendary make-up artist almost a decade in the past is struggling. As soon as valued at over $1 billion, the road is value a fraction of that at the moment. A number of rounds of layoffs, and indicators of behind-the-scenes turmoil elevate questions on what went unsuitable and the way the enterprise can get again on observe.
5. Case Examine | The Playbook for Succeeding in China’s New Actuality. As soon as trend’s most dependable progress engine, the Chinese language market is shifting as client spending cools and buyers with extra selection than ever gravitate towards savvy home manufacturers. Alternatives for worldwide gamers are nonetheless plentiful, however the outdated system for succeeding in China is not related. Manufacturers want a brand new sport plan to face out.
6. Manufacturers That Dominated the Social Dialog Throughout Milan Style Week. DSquared2, Moschino and Versace led the user-generated dialog on social media throughout Milan Style Week in response to BoF Insights’ new social intelligence instrument PULSE, powered by Quilt.AI.
This Weekend on The BoF Podcast
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Demna’s transfer to Gucci, introduced after weeks of feverish hypothesis, shocked trade observers and despatched shockwaves by way of monetary markets, with Kering shares dropping sharply by greater than 12 %. Whereas some hail this as a possibility for Demna to reinvent Gucci by way of his distinctive cultural lens, others query his skill to interrupt free from his Balenciaga legacy. BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed posits, “The actually huge query right here is, can Demna do one thing completely different?”
In the meantime, Donatella Versace’s transition from chief inventive officer to chief model ambassador marks the top of a storied period and the start of a brand new chapter underneath Dario Vitale. Highlighting Donatella’s cultural influence, BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks notes, “Versace was one of many few names that registered with individuals who didn’t know something about trend.”
Recent off a stellar tenure at Miu Miu, the place he helped to ignite report progress, Vitale faces the bold activity of balancing Versace’s iconic legacy with a renewed modern relevance. With whispers of potential acquisition by Prada Group swirling, Versace stands on the precipice of transformation.
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This season, all eyes have been on the debuts of Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford and Sarah Burton at Givenchy. In the meantime, designs at Alaïa and Valentino continued to push boundaries with daring silhouettes that both stood away from the physique or felt purposely incomplete.
Behind the brand new faces and unconventional shapes was a deeper exploration of eroticism. From Ackermann’s sensual glamour at Tom Ford to what Tim Blanks calls the “quiet eroticism” of Burton’s Givenchy, designers appeared united by a playful fascination with the physique — and a want to subtly problem its boundaries.
“Style is a really fetishistic artwork type,” says Tim Blanks, BoF’s editor-at-large. “It has its fixations on the physique and the way in which it fetishizes objects, however trend is about fetishizing magnificence and ugliness. Numerous these various things have been arising over the previous few years.”
Following the conclusion of the Autumn/Winter 2025 exhibits, Blanks sits down with BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to debate the highlights of trend month.
