Demna has always had a freakish talent for injecting “cool factor” into whatever brand he touches, and Gucci’s latest project is no exception. “Generation Gucci” – a lookbook for a runway show that never actually happened – takes you into the mind of the maestro, as if we are looking at Demna rummaging through the attic of Gucci’s past, pulling out decades of menswear codes, and stitching them into something that’s equal parts archival fever dream and future flex. Shot by Demna himself, the lookbook splices together different eras of Gucci menswear into one sharp aesthetic storyline, a prelude to the full vision he’ll drop in February.
Menswear here gets the full Demna treatment: lightweight tailoring in archival silk faille that looks intentionally lived-in; legging-fit suit pants that blur the line between “proper” and “provocative”; wetsuit-inspired tops and body-hugging leather that turn technical wear into nightlife armor; jeans so clean and seamless they feel almost conceptual; and travel suits in silk that function like pyjamas for people who refuse to dress down.
Textured coats appear featherlight, pieced from shearling, silk, goat hair, and feathers like some decadent couture patchwork. Equally bold are the head-to-toe leather and suede looks, 70s racer jackets with the Web stripe, and equestrian-print silk sets pulled from Gucci’s archive and thrown into 2025 with a smirk. Footwear goes minimal and aerodynamic – loafers soft as dance shoes, ballerinas brought back in men’s sizing, and classic silhouettes redone with metal spikes, like heirloom pieces reworked by a new generation.
And the bags hit both nostalgia and experimentation: monogrammed Phone+ slings in chainmail, angular new Dionysus shapes, and Jackie 1961 forms that shrink, swell, or sharpen depending on Demna’s mood.
“Generation Gucci” is a preview of what happens when Demna raids a century of menswear codes and refuses to play by any of their rules.
