By Giulia Piceni. Cover image by Phil Oh.
The latest Gucci by Sabato De Sarno fashion show, featuring the FW 2024-25 collection, has sparked controversy among industry insiders, leaving many uncertain about the future evolution of the brand. Given the large budget of the Florentine fashion house, it would be hard for anyone to fail a garment’s quality check. However, many fashion enthusiasts were disappointed by the lack of links with the Gucci heritage or any narrative to support the designer’s stylistic choices. In other words, after a few seasons, it seems that the Creative Director Sabato De Sarno’s new vision lacks storytelling.
A way to distance himself from Alessandro Michele’s oniric and darkly fairytale-like legacy, with Sabato de Sarno, the focus remains on the garment. This creative method doesn’t convince the critics. The overall allure has been defined in multiple ways, but we can summarise it with three “B”s: boring, bourgeois and banal.
The garments created by De Sarno for the latest Gucci shows are silent while people expect them to burst with messages like those of previous creatives like Alessandro Michele and Tom Ford. The communicate solely through their craftsmanship – a feature that certainly benefits Kering, as the group aims to make Gucci the next most exclusive brand of our era, like Hermès. However, the fashion industry insiders are not convinced about this approach, at least at the moment.
Nevertheless, if one looks carefully, De Sarno’s creative direction has a level of depth that is based on the absence of storytelling. This conscious choice, if not appreciated, must be acknowledged. In this sense, it was able to trace the current Gucci ethos back to the Minimalist movement of the 50s and 60s. The following paragraphs explore the topic with examples.
GUCCI WITH SABATO DE SARNO MERGING ARTS AND FASHION. BUT HOW?
On social media, Sabato de Sarno doesn’t hide his fascination for the arts, an interest he shares with Alessandro Michele, even if they reference different art movements. While the former Creative Director was into Roman Baroque and esoteric allures, the current one is much more focused on contemporary arts. This love was declared from the very start during his debut show, which took place in the Brera district, the heart of the Milanese art scene and related academies.
The connection between art and garments is yet to be fully defined, and hopefully, it will become more apparent in the upcoming collections. Currently, artworks only serve as an additional element, a decoration that enhance the overall aesthetic appeal and exclusivity, as seen in the newly-renewed boutique in Milan, showcasing by Fontana.
GARMENTS LIKE THE STACKS OF DONALD JUDD
If it were possible to translate Sabato de Sarno’s latest work into an art movement, it would be 1950s Minimalism. This is not merely because of the simplicity of the garments, in how the cuts are polished and smooth, but also because of the minimalist idea of the “objectiveness of the object”. Minimalists derived the strength of their artworks from the absence of meaning; there was no concept behind them, and that made their art very democratic and understandable by everybody, especially for the high-middle class that emerged with the post-war economic boom. Minimalist art didn’t require advanced knowledge for people to appreciate it as the form spoke for itself. The shallow appearance was everything needed to appreciate the final artwork, as the Minimalist master Frank Stella used to say: “It is what it is”. Just like minimalist artwork, De Sarno’s garments are aesthetically democratic and appreciated by everyone, yet they are unattainable due to their exclusivity.
Just like the Black series by the previously mentioned artist or the known “stacks” by Donald Judd, the new Gucci focuses on craftsmanship rather than storytelling and meaningfulness, in the same way that minimalists used to make the industrial process emerge from their artworks. The emphasis is solely on the final product, not the general storytelling context; besides the external appearance, there is no need to dig deeper as nothing else would be found. This is a departure from Michele’s trademark style at Gucci and an attempt to focus on the “garmentess of garments”: a conceptual shift with the objective of creating beautiful clothes capable of selling more than the previous creative direction.
ABOUT GUCCI SABATO DE SARNO LAST SHOW: FW 2024-25
Following the theme of contemporary art, it was interesting to notice that De Sarno had shared an IG story a few hours before the latest runway show, the FW 2024, which featured an art-based moodboard that even included artwork by the Arte Povera master Giovanni Anselmo: a projection on a hand with the adjective and noun particolare in white. However, the excitement was short-lived, as the show ended without any direct reference to the artwork. It remains unclear what role these masterpieces will play in relation to the garments. Hopefully, we will gain more clarity with time.
Sophisticated Bottega Veneta ochre and burgundy; softly inflated bags resembling the Slam Jam by Maison Margiela; platforms that appeared as a continuation of De Sarno’s background at Valentino and sequins that alluded to the playfulness of MiuMiu’s girly style. The latest runway show by De Sarno is full of references directly taken from our contemporary world. These references are not yet well-digested enough to be perceived as a united vision. It would be far too offensive – and wrong – to assert that this a mere copy and paste. The malfunctionality of the new Gucci lies in the fact that it lacks narration, whether De Sarno accepts it or not. For a Gucci customer, an incredibly well-crafted garment may be enough, but the industry’s insiders are thirsty for something more.
