The Tate Modern in London was decorated with lush greenery, for creative Director Sabato De Sarno’s Gucci Cruise 2025 collection.
Guccio Gucci’s time working at London’s Savoy hotel at the turn of the 20th century inspired him to found the company. Now, De Sarno’s experience of the city inspired this Cruise collection. De Sarno’s perspective of the city as a force to unite opposites sparked Gucci’s London return.
“I like taking something that we think we know and breaking away from its rules, taking it as far as it can go, without ever distorting it. Bringing it towards its opposite and finding harmony,” said De Sarno.
De Sarno already expressed his conceptions of desirability and sensuality in past collections. In his Gucci Cruise debut, De Sarno reveals his romantic, contradictory side.
He subverts typical dressing codes, adding an unexpected harshness to a traditionally-soft cruise collection. One would typically anticipate lightweight fabrics and easy silhouettes in a cruise collection. De Sarno preserves this aesthetic, while infusing it with heavy fabrics and structured silhouettes.
Pussy-bow blouses reminiscent of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci era took an unprecedented turn, paired with suede jackets. Leather bomber jackets accompanied pleated skirts in monochrome creamy orange and minty green. A tailored, black leather coat guarded a sheer, daisy-embroidered dress. Throughout the collection, outerwear provided a sense of security to delicate chiffon or lace bases.
De Sarno demonstrated how fragile can become tough. The show’s finale demonstrated this dichotomy best, with pleated pastel dresses confronting the cold concrete background of the Tate Modern Tanks. These final, dreamy dresses also proved De Sarno’s new romantic direction.
More dressing codes subverted, De Sarno met eveningwear with the everyday. Tennis socks appeared alongside dresses. Dresses emerged from underneath denim popovers. Street met salon where boxy coats balanced feminine pearl chokers and baggy jeans offset ballet flats.
Amongst the fashion anarchy, though, Gucci emblems stood their ground. Paying tribute to the House’s link with the equestrian world, De Sarno embellished ballet flats with the horsebit. The horsebit loafers also held their place in this collection, occasionally with a platform.
The show notes described the collection as, “Englishness with an Italian accent.” De Sarno’s Italian accent shines in British tartans, which he reimagined for a modern generation with embroidered bead fringe. A suede mini dress felt like an Italian reinterpretation of something British icon Jane Birkin would have sported in the 60s. The rounded Blondie bag, reminiscent of Italy in the 70s, appears in both leather and toile and features the Gucci logo. Fashion forges a new, universal language. As a public space where cultures collide through art, Tate Modern symbolizes this blend of identity.
De Sarno welcomed tension between ideals by spotlighting dualities in London, humanity, and fashion. The rebellious Cruise collection shifted typical perceptions of clothing, celebrating the individual. Monday evening, Gucci brought the Tate Modern’s allegory of creative juxtapositions to life through fashion.
All images courtesy of Gucci.
