Gucci flipped the script on fashion week with the premiere of The Tiger, a short film directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn. Instead of sending models down a runway, Demna used cinema to present his first collection for the House – a decision that instantly set the tone for his tenure.
The cast reads like the credits of a cult classic in the making: Demi Moore, Edward Norton, Ed Harris, Elliot Page, Keke Palmer, Alia Shawkat, Julianne Nicholson, Heather Lawless, Ronny Chieng, Kendall Jenner, and Alex Consani. Dressed in looks from the debut La Famiglia collection, the actors play out a family dinner laced with irony, humour and tension. It’s fashion spliced with theatre, where the clothes don’t just decorate the scene but drive its mood.
The clothes mirror the plot line, where vulnerability is echoed in shimmering dresses and mystery in sharp tailoring; metaphor aside, the collection itself is captivating, making it difficult to resist the urge to fall into a daze when watching the pieces shift between elegance and edge.
Audience reaction suggests Demna’s risk was worth it. The screening drew a crowd of actors, models and insiders, making the atmosphere more like a film festival premiere than a fashion event. And Demna knows how to pull you in: The Tiger doesn’t resolve neatly, it lingers, leaving viewers curious for what comes next.
For Gucci, this is more than a new season. It’s a reset. Demna is positioning the brand as a cultural player that uses storytelling to frame its clothes rather than the other way around. If his debut is a sign of what’s ahead, Gucci’s future will be defined less by the runway and more by the worlds it creates.
