Where do you come from? How did our paths cross? Who will you become?

In late 1800s London, a young Guccio Gucci worked as a luggage porter at The Savoy—a luxurious hotel where these existential questions materialized in coexistence amongst guests who spawned from incongruous walks of life. As a philosophical genesis for Gucci’s fascination in life’s endless possibility, The Savoy has reemerged as an aesthetic impetus for the fashion house’s current creative direction—emboldened by nursing diverse branding despite its potential for incohesive eccentricities.

Following Tom Ford’s reign in sleek minimalism and Alessandro Michele’s incumbency in maximal opulence, The Store Show in Milan unveiled Gucci’s debut attempt at conceptualizing the fashion house’s new identity under Italian creative director, Demna. Following his stewardship at Balenciaga, Demna’s raison d’être at Gucci since 2025 has centered on bridging Gucci’s past clashing brand identities by accepting that said clashes are what make Gucci thrive—by illuminating collision in identity until it becomes cohesive, by staring at a crooked portrait on a wall until it straightens itself out. A celebration of the antithetical, Demna’s debut collection with The Store Show embodies this disordered, mosaic spirit founded all those years ago at The Savoy by literally setting the runway in a man-made store setting, vivified by a rich tension between commercial mall vulgarity and high-brow, quintessential glamour.

Divided into three separate personalities that surmise Demna’s palette for Gucci, The Store Show consists of “The Rebellious Aristocrat,” “The Snob,” and “The Eccentric.” The front row was not short of celebrity—Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Cardi B, Shawn Mendes, just to name a few. A playful mix of jazz, Brazilian percussion, and tango sensuality, Music Director Loki’s orchestrations served as a quirky, yet balanced soundtrack for models who pumped down the runway, both loose and determined.

Despite being labeled as “Spring/Summer,” the collection at times teetered away from the lighter, cooler side. Rooted in reimagining old-money dress codes, men sported cropped trousers, sock-less loafers, low-slung pants, and pagoda shoulders in stonewashed textiles. Outerwear tops were slender and tight, yet contrastingly sit atop slouchy denim cinched to the hips by the abrasive, yet iconic GG Marmont belt.

Women tapped into Gucci’s equestrian heritage with oversized and miniature Horsebits, along with sharp-shouldered blouses and drainpipe trousers that corrupt traditional bourgeois imagery with a distinctly Gucci flair. Pantsuits were sharply tailored. Skirt suits ruminated and dazzled with a sort of cerebral, cosmopolitan sleaze. Eveningwear shillouhettes—whether they teetered on lingerie or floated airily as “gravity” gowns—remained fluid while secured by voluminous fur outerwear. Glam ranged from soft to enigmatic, sometimes even a sort of dark, Balenciaga punk.

And such a “range” in caricatures, in makeup, or in ideas announced Demna’s Gucci as a store finally open for business—enamored by myriad identities, and consequently, free in the user's choice to become whatever it sets out to be.