The Italian creative director of Gucci, Sabato De Sarno – who began his tenure at the house in 2023 – has so far favoured a stripped-back approach to his runway shows, a symbolic departure from the theatrical runway presentations of his forebear Alessandro Michele. His last men’s and womenswear outings in Milan were shown in the Fonderia Carlo Macchi, a concrete-walled former industrial space on the outskirts of the city, with just monolithic Gucci-branded blocks as mise-en-scène (the exact shade: Gucci ‘Ancora’ red, the designer’s signature hue).
For his first Cruise outing for the house – the globe-trotting runway shows synonymous with far-flung locations and arresting show settings – the designer has taken a different tack. Taking place in London’s Tate Modern this evening (13 May 2024), De Sarno transformed the gallery’s subterranean ‘tanks’ into a blown-up terrarium, filled with a lush jungle of around 10,000 different plants. Sabato describes it as a botanic ‘tapestry’, which after the show will be donated to community projects in London, including Life Under the Westway, an urban gardening project led by non-profit Grow to Know which will regenerate West London’s Westway-adjacent Maxilla Gardens.
