Gucci Did the Impossible: It Made Times Square Chic

2 min read

Times Square may have its vocal detractors, but it’s hard to deny that it’s the living, breathing, Naked Cowboying center of New York City. No wonder Demna, ever unafraid to explode a cliché, chose Manhattan’s always-on nucleus as the unlikely setting for his cruise show tonight. Given Gucci’s longstanding history with the metropolis—it was the location of its first store outside Italy back in 1953—“bringing this show to New York feels like a homecoming for the brand,” the designer said in a “manifesto” released post-event. With Kim Kardashian and Mariah Carey in attendance and Cindy Crawford, Tom Brady, and a (newly brunette) Paris Hilton on the catwalk, the runway refracted on its famous big-screen billboards, the show lived up to its frenetic venue.

Candice Swanepoel.

Demna was inspired by Robert Longo’s “Men in the Cities” photo series of figures in corporate suiting executing extreme, balletic moves—ordinary people rendered extraordinary. “To do something that felt real to New York, I wanted to show this collection on the kind of people you might pass on the street,” he said in his show notes, “individuals with their own way of wearing clothes, a plurality of styles that intersect like the streets of the city.”

Paris Hilton.

Before the show, guests were treated to ads for real and fictitious Gucci products (including Gucci Life longevity capsules, a wink at the fashion industry’s current obsession with life extension). Then came the sartorial offerings: high-sheen suits and banker pinstripes for the daytime hustle, and aughts-reminiscent low-rise jeans and crop tops for the nighttime one. Just like everyday New Yorkers, the models clutched their iPhones, bodega bouquets, and keys, or toted yoga mats—commutercore at its finest. Demna nodded to the house DNA with Horsebit motifs, signature red-and-green Web stripe accents (which, at one point, took the form of a bandeau top), and cocoon-like duvet stoles.

Cindy Crawford.

The collection was titled GucciCore; the name was not just another expression of what the designer has previously termed “Gucci-ness;” it denotes a permanent collection of wardrobe staples—a smart move on Demna’s part. And, in tribute to the city, GucciNY, a limited-edition lineup of New York-inspired pieces, will be available starting tomorrow at its NYC store locations and online. And you thought having to fight your way through rush hour was competitive.

Véronique Hyland is ELLE’s Fashion Features Director and the author of the book Dress Code, which was selected as one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year. Her writing has previously appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, W, New York magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, and Condé Nast Traveler.