Kering Appoints Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia as Creative Director of Gucci

At the end of COVID, Kering was doing well, mainly on the back of their most famous house, Gucci. New money crypto millionaires dressed hat-to-shoes in their double-G monogram; women worldwide splashed on Gucci’s latest bags; and Chinese luxury consumers spent there like it was having a closing-down sale. The skies were blue, the sun was shining, and it would always stay this way. In August 2021, they were valued at $115 billion.Gucci De Sarno Runway Accessories. Courtesy of TagwalkBut it didn’t. Over the past four years, the luxury market has dramatically contracted, as the international economy slowed and Chinese consumers reigned in their spending, and few brands were hit harder than Gucci. Their creative director, Alessandro Michele — who had once brought the brand back to relevance — seemed bored and wasn’t exciting customers anymore; and his replacement, Sabato De Sarno, had few fans. His work was subtle, elegant, and beautifully made, and — as I have written — was a significant improvement over anything Michele made in his later years at Gucci. But it wasn’t selling. And so, in February, Kering sacked him and went out searching for a more attention-drawing designer.They needed someone with a reputation for grabbing eyeballs, shaping trends, and — more important than anything else — selling a ton of product. And so they hired Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia.Born in Georgia, the now-mononym Demna is one of the most influential designers of his generation. On the one hand, his decade at Balenciaga has rocketed the brand to the top of the luxury market, with every year having hit items and a few — like their ultra-chunky Triple S sneakers — being massive best-sellers that have set the style of the entire industry. Under his tenure, he grew the brand from estimated revenues of $390 million to $2 billion. However, Demna has also been immensely controversial. To his harshest critics, Demna’s work is lazy shock fashion that insults luxury fashion and mocks its buyers. Examples include Balenciaga’s $2145 IKEA bag knockoff, $695 collaborative stiletto Crocs, $1700 shirt-on-shirt, and $1850 pre-distressed Paris sneakers, which looked like a pair of Converse that went through a lawnmower.Balenciaga Gimmick Items. Courtesy of GucciWith this appointment, the fear is that Demna will do the same thing he did at Balenciaga but use G logos instead of a big B. In this view, it would be lots of black baggy hoodies, pre-distressed logo prints, gimmicky brand collaborations, and deliberately dumb, provocative products — which would be deeply harmful to the Gucci brand. The markets seem to share this fear, as Kering’s shares fell 12% after the announcement, bringing them to a value of just over $27 billion. But I wouldn’t expect this.Though Demna fell in a rut at Balenciaga — repeating variants of the same show repeatedly — he’s an immensely talented designer, and his best work there has been utterly beautiful, made with great care for the house’s legacy. His couture dresses for Balenciaga have made direct references to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s early collections, as does his uniform black palate. Also, though his accessories get the most attention, Balenciaga’s coats, in particular, have been the most beautiful designer apparel on sale and have been a precursor for the “power coat” style now adopted by Fear of God, The Row, Phoebe Philo, and more. And, to my eye, their cinched coat is perhaps the best designer garment on the market. If I had spare thousands lying around, I would buy one.Balenciaga Cinched Car Coat. Courtesy of GucciThe other thing to note is that, though his shock designs have been deliberately attention-grabbing — which, in turn, helped sell a lot of shoes and bags — they are also consistent with the history of Balenciaga. Look at Cristóbal’s original shows, and you’ll see black and white dresses made in wild, avant-garde silhouettes. Demna’s work fits that history.In short, Demna knows how to make beautifully tailored designer clothes, how to make hit items, and how to get a lot of attention, and do so while being deeply reverential to the brand’s archive and history, but without being derivative. That feels like a perfect combination for Gucci — a luxury house that leans into sensuality and popular appeal — and I would expect his version to play on Tom Ford’s version of the brand.It will take a while before we find out what his clothes will look like though, and even longer to see if they will sell. Demna remains at Balenciaga until July, with his first show for Gucci happening in September, meaning they’ll only hit stores in 2026. It’s a risky appointment, but Kering couldn’t afford to be conservative, and I’m confident it will pay off.

Kering Appoints Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia as Creative Director of Gucci

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