Fall in Love with Gucci ‘Ancora’

From Alessandro Micheles' maximalist Gucci designs to the new Sabato De Sanro creative direction. Here is all you need to know about the changes within the brand. De Sanro describes his spring collections: "It’s a story of music and nights out, of sweat, dancing, and singing. It’s a story of family, of kissing, lots and lots of kisses”.

Sabato De Sanro has worked for the likes of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino and now, for the first time, he works as creative director for Gucci. Changing the brand's character quickly, bringing it back to a more classic and minimalist design. 

Sabato De Sarno and Mark Ronson

The previous creative director, Alessandro Michele, worked at Gucci from 2015 till November 2022 and definitely left a mark. Gucci was far from a subtle designer brand; if someone wore it, you could spot it. For a long time, that was the trend. The maximalist designs of Alessandro Michele will always be remembered. From the Geek-chic aesthetic to the identical twin Spring/Summer show of 2023. 

Gucci Spring-Summer 2023 at Milan Fashion Week (photo: Gucci)

De Sanro's first women's collection debuted in September 2023. This was not only de Sanro’s first show for Gucci but also the first time in 7 years Gucci had two separate shows. In past years, Michele did menswear and womenswear together as he firmly believed that gender should not be binary. Even though de Sarno split the shows, he carries on this ideology in a different way.  

The women's and recent men's Spring 2024 collections saw many classic leather designs, such as loafers, Gucci-branded belts, and slightly adapted versions of the famous 60s Jackie bags. De Sanro brought a new focus on blazers and coats with luxury tailoring. For womenswear, shorts and short dresses paraded down the catwalk to show off the models' legs, returning to that 60s silhouette. There was even a change in the style of their monogram print. This slight change has brought a whole new persona to Gucci. Something more timeless. 

Gucci Spring-Summer 2024 Milan Fashion Week (photo: Gucci)

Colour is something de Sanro knows how to elevate, as he created a bright pink seen all throughout Valentino's Spring/Summer collection last year. Setting up a seasonal colour for the brand. Gucci's new house colour was scattered throughout the collection and painted across cities on monuments and buildings.

The colour is called ‘Ancora’, meaning ‘again’ in Italian. ‘Ancora’ is a shade of dark red, which is already a trendy colour—mentioned all across the media as the 2024's ‘it’ colour. It is a traditional Gucci colour, just a few shades darker, making this collection feel like de Sarno is trying to take us back to its classical look, its Italian heritage.

David Sims, Gucci Campaign (2024)

De Sanro’s designs are much more practical, items everyone can wear whenever they want. This practicality was also reflected in his recent Gucci campaign. The campaign shows new faces. Examining their individuality in an attempt to try to relate to and broaden their clientele.  After facing the pandemic, Gucci's sales aren't as high as they once were, falling behind other brands. De Sanro’s attempt at making his designs more practical and adapting Gucci's classic leather goods might be the key to rising sales. 

 De Sanro wants people to fall back in love with Gucci, ‘Ancora’.