Event: Gucci

Demna is fashion’s dark lord of apocalyptic streetwear. Gucci is the glossy sex kitten of Milan. Put the two together, and what do you get? Sex appeal that flirts with bad taste.Demna. Photograph: GucciAt Demna’s first Gucci catwalk show, staged in Milan on Friday afternoon in front of an audience including Donatella Versace and Paris and Nicky Hilton, dresses were so short and tight that Emily Ratajkowski periodically yanked down a handful of disco-ball sequins to cover her bottom as she walked. There were lapdance-bar tinsel hair extensions, and Kate Moss in a diamante G-string. A certain sketchiness in the roll of the hips, a model who pulled his phone out of his bumbag and scrolled his way down the catwalk.“Everybody thought I would make oversized bomber jackets with monograms,” said the mononymous king-of-the-hoodie designer after the show. “That’s what ChatGPT said, apparently. But that’s not why I came to Gucci.” Instead, he said, his Gucci will be “energy, passion, fun and sex”.Emily Ratajkowski periodically yanked down a handful of disco-ball sequins to cover her bottom as she walked. Photograph: Daniele Mascolo/ReutersThe walk-of-shame vibe was a surprise, considering that the night before the show Demna had released a statement citing Botticelli’s early Renaissance paintings as an inspiration. Backstage, he explained the connection as wanting “to put Gucci back into cultural relevance. Gucci is part of Italian culture – like Botticelli, like Michelangelo. But cultural relevance always starts with underground culture, not with the mainstream, even with a big brand. Gucci has to be fearless.”Fashion history is on his side. Gucci’s best eras have been its boldest. When compellingly slutty-yet-aloof under Tom Ford, or ambitiously gender-fluid and vintage-curious under Alessandro Michele, Gucci has plugged fashion into pop culture. The recent brief reign of Sabato De Sarno was widely regarded as playing…