Gucci Primavera Turns Casting Into the Main Event

A dim room gives Kate Moss the campaign’s cinematic entrance. Directed by Johan Renck, the short film follows her lip-syncing to Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game while strangers gradually pair off on the dance floor. Still images by Michal Chelbin take a more formal route, borrowing the poses and gravity of classical portraiture.

Demna fills those portraits with people from very different cultural spheres. Jin, Ningning, Shawn Mendes, Xiao Zhan, Tom Brady, Alex Consani and Rico Nasty are among the ten figures Gucci describes as representatives of its new identity. The collection itself supplies fitted jerseys, leather, sequins and the heightened glamour introduced on the Primavera runway.

Celebrity has always helped fashion turn an image into desire. Here, however, the scale of the casting creates an interesting tension.

Early coverage frequently leads with the names themselves, from Kate Moss and Shawn Mendes to Jin and Tom Brady, before reaching the garments. If the Gucci codes fail to catch the eye first, the star-studded cast certainly will.

That attention is useful while Demna rebuilds Gucci’s cultural visibility. It also raises a longer-term test for his tenure. Famous faces can introduce the characters of a new Gucci remarkably quickly, but eventually the clothes, bags and silhouettes need enough identity to become the headline themselves.

For now, Gucci Primavera proves that Demna can assemble an audience. The next question is whether the products can hold it.