Written By: Rhea Lobo
Debuting his first Gucci Cruise collection, Demna performs his fourth act of character studies – this time, it’s the New Yorkers at Times Square.
One thing was for certain at Demna’s first Cruise collection for Gucci, being that the creative director is staging a complete Gucci revival.
Reminding us of the insane pull Gucci has, the show took place bang in the middle of Times Square on a Saturday night, in New York City where Gucci once opened its very first global store back in 1953.
Courtesy of Gucci
Mariah Carey | Courtesy of Gucci
Esdeekid | Courtesy of Gucci
Making entrances are Mariah Carey, Esdeekid, our Sorbet cover star Kim Kardashian, and Sorbet interviewee Willy Chavarria, the fabulous Lady Bunny, to name a few. Ordinarily, you may not have looked twice if these VIP’s walked past in Times Square – sunglasses and baseball caps in disguise guaranteed – yet here we are, paps papping away, and completely Gucci-fied as they flutter across the square to Gucci’s front row.
Kim Kardashian | Courtesy of Gucci
Willy Chavarria & Stevel Kolb | Courtesy of Gucci
Lady Bunny | Courtesy of Gucci
This propped-out runway was Demna’s 4th act of character studies culminating his previous La Famiglia, Generation Gucci, and Primavera collections. And study characters, he did, walking every New Yorker from the stockbrokers in pinstripes and backpack-wearing tech bros to ‘ladies who lunch’ in shearling coats, skaters and their slouchy denim, and socialites dressed to the nines.
Courtesy of Gucci
Opening the show, Charlie Jones is suited up in slim fit, a Gucci-colored apple in hand. Then Kayako Higuchi carrying a yoga mat on one shoulder, bamboo bag on the other, in Horsebit heels. Followed by Beauty holding an iPhone perhaps in a nod to the iconic moment Fakemink pulled out his own device at Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2026 runway. “The kind of people you might pass on the street,” he says in his GucciCore manifesto, with models strutting down in hair, makeup, and nails to fit each character’s vibe.
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
Models clutch flower bouquets, others carry Gucci car keys and what looks like laptops in Gucci bags in a plurality of styles colliding on crosswalks from Madison Avenue to Brooklyn. Hints were plastered across Times Square’s screens in a montage of real and fictional Gucci Advertisements ranging from Gucci Automobili and Gucci Aqua to Gucci Pets, Gucci Life, and Gucci Gym.
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
We see paisley-printed silk, which became a staple in Gucci’s ready-to-wear during the bohemian movement, peeking out from cropped leather jackets. In addition, the ever-iconic Gucci Flora slipped into linings and splashed across look 15’s long coat, both prints arising circa 1960’s to 1970’s.
Classic codes reinterpreted for the modern gaze means a bandeau top made of only Gucci’s iconic 1950’s red and green Web stripe – the colors also showing up on transparent tinted sunglasses – and spotting Horsebit on boots, bags, and button-down shirts alike.
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
The embroidered feathers and sequined tassels didn’t outshine the rest, but a brunette Paris Hilton (in character) might have: there was a fur coat with Gucci flora lining, a yellow dress with details galore, a Gucci Web belt, paired with a red box bag and black heeled boots. This, alongside series of skinny-fit trousers with sheen – high, mid, and low waist all making it to the runway.
Courtesy of Gucci
Egyptian-Lebanese jewelry designer and socialite Sabine Getty made her runway debut, alongside Tom Brady in an all-leather look. Alex Consani played Gucci’s femme fatale walking out, hands on hips, in a memorable sheer black caftan-style gown, necklaces chucked on like nobody’s business, coupled with the smokiest eye and a bold red lip. And Miss Cindy Crawford as the ultimate 90’s New York icon in flouncy feathers to close Gucci Cruise 2027.
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
Courtesy of Gucci
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