Gucci Embraces Heritage Elements at Milan Fashion Week Amid Leadership Transition

The luxury fashion industry has experienced significant executive reshuffling over the past 18 months, leaving many prestigious brands navigating uncertain waters. This reality was particularly evident during the opening days of Milan Fashion Week, where Gucci’s situation stood out prominently.

Following Sabato De Sarno’s unexpected departure earlier this month, Gucci’s internal design team took charge of presenting the brand’s autumn/winter collections for both women and men. Despite experiencing a 21 percent decline in reported sales to €7.7 billion between 2023 and 2024, Gucci maintains its position as a dominant force in luxury fashion. The brand’s continuing influence was evidenced by its star-studded front row featuring recent advertising campaign celebrities Jessica Chastain, Julia Garner, and men’s tennis world number one Jannik Sinner. The presentation was appropriately staged at Superstudio Maxi, one of Milan’s largest event venues, underscoring the brand’s significance in the fashion landscape.

Industry analysts are pushing for Gucci to appoint a high-profile creative director, contrary to the brand’s long-standing tradition of discovering and elevating relatively unknown design talent to international prominence. Whoever takes the helm faces the substantial challenge of revitalizing this iconic fashion house.

For this transitional show, Gucci’s design team strategically emphasized the brand’s established signatures and iconic elements. The collection deliberately showcased “Gucci’s Gucci-ness,” reinforcing the enduring appeal of the brand’s identity regardless of who occupies the creative director position.

While De Sarno’s direction had previously stripped away the whimsical playfulness characteristic of former creative director Alessandro Michele—who had himself transformed the sultry sensuality that defined the Tom Ford era of the 1990s—this collection skillfully balanced both aesthetic approaches. The presentation appeared to particularly reference Ford’s influential period, which continues to command premium prices in vintage markets. The opening shearling Chubby jacket cleverly nodded to a piece from a celebrated Studio 54-inspired collection from 1996. Other vintage callbacks included double G-logo interpretations in devoré velvet and a statement horsebit belt reminiscent of 1995 designs.

Accessories throughout the collection remained a strong point, adhering closely to established brand codes. The women’s line featured revivals of the 1955 bag alongside bamboo-handled totes, while male models carried Gucci duffles by the tip of their zippers, creating the impression they had been plucked directly from the archives. A standout piece—a hobo bag crafted from textured Mongolian lamb with a substantial metal horsebit—perfectly balanced quirky innovation with reassuringly familiar brand identity elements.

Meanwhile, designer Glenn Martens, who recently succeeded John Galliano as creative director at Maison Margiela while maintaining his responsibilities at Italian denim powerhouse Diesel, presented a notably refined collection for the latter. His approach suggested preparation for his upcoming debut at a heritage couture house, albeit an unconventional one.

Martens playfully referenced a “trashed” Coco Chanel and Queen Elizabeth II for his distinctively Diesel-appropriate parade of distressed denim, woven this season into rough houndstooth patterns for a more sophisticated aesthetic. “A bit more elevated,” Martens explained, while maintaining that even formal pieces at Diesel should retain a casual, irreverent attitude rather than demanding careful handling.

The collection opened with authentic tweed and wool suiting elements—reflecting Martens’ observation that while Diesel has successfully captured Gen Z consumers, Millennials are now seeking “soft tailoring” from the brand, though executed with raw cutting techniques and neoprene bonding. For younger audiences, Martens reinterpreted low-riding “bumster” skirts and jeans, drawing on late ’90s nostalgia but incorporating built-in underwear to create a form-fitting silhouette.

Taking this concept to extremes, the finale featured shirts literally adhered to models’ torsos using medical-grade wound adhesive. “We’re a brand all about marketing, so here the body is a billboard,” Martens explained. However, under his creative leadership, Diesel has increasingly become known for innovative design alongside marketing prowess. This approach is proving commercially successful—in a challenging period for luxury brands, Diesel reported a 3.2 percent increase in sales between 2023 and 2024, attributing this growth to a repositioning strategy that emphasizes Martens’ design innovation. The brand is even considering patent protection for a new denim-nylon jacquard material.

At Dsquared2, twin designers Dean and Dan Caten demonstrated their unparalleled showmanship—a quality that consistently makes their runway presentations exceptionally engaging. Breaking from their usual placement on the men’s fashion calendar to reach the broader audience of women’s fashion week as they celebrated their 30th anniversary in business, they opened with 2025 Grammy Award winner Doechii dressed in a creative fusion of Canadian outdoor camping attire and glamorous evening wear. This juxtaposition referenced both the extensive range of their three-decade career and the diverse elements within this milestone presentation.

Each runway exit constituted a mini-narrative, featuring models styled as Tom of Finland characters, 1970s seducers, or with theatrical makeup evoking Cher. While unconventional, the presentation delivered extraordinary entertainment value while remaining unmistakably Dsquared2. As a branding exercise, it was exceptionally effective.