Demna’s Gucci debut was a film premiere turned fashion show

Since arriving on the scene in 2014 with his transgressive label Vetements, we’ve known Georgian mastermind Demna to do things a little differently. His shock defection from Balenciaga to Gucci back in March continued his penchant for surprise, and now that he’s officially installed at the Italian house he’s back on that path once more. Take this SS26 season, for instance: Demna was scheduled to release his debut Gucci collection via presentation on the Tuesday evening of Milan Fashion Week, but surprised the world when he dropped it early via digital lookbook the day before. Then, the day of the presentation, he revealed that his MFW slot was actually the premiere of a new short film called The Tiger, directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, and starring Demi Moore, Edward Norton, Elliot Page, Keke Palmer, Alia Shawkat and more. Honestly, it’s been difficult to keep up with him the last couple of days.

At the film’s Milan premiere last night, the new collection – titled La Famiglia – broke free from the confines of the lookbook, worn by a number of famous faces on the red carpet. However, this wouldn’t be a Demna debut if it didn’t come with some sort of meta-commentary on fashion, and that arrived in the form of the La Famiglia characters themselves arriving at the film’s premiere. There was Alex Consani in her tiger-print faux fur as ‘La Bomba’, Mariacarla Boscono as the perpetually pissed-off ‘Incazzata’, Lila Moss as the young ingénue ‘Ragazza’, and model Alana Champion as ‘La Bomba no. 2’. Even the guests who weren’t in the original campaign were dressed as La Famiglia characters in a self-referential way: Gwenyth Paltrow came in head-to-toe monogram as ‘La VIP’, which makes a lot of sense considering her status as one of Hollywood’s untouchables. Demi Moore was also there and dressed as ‘La Mecanate’ or ‘The Patron’, which follows on from her starring role in The Tiger as the fictional head of the Gucci empire.

Speaking of the film, the Jonze/Reijn 30-minute two-hander followed the story of Barbara Gucci – played by Moore – who is head of Gucci International and also owns the state of California (yes, you read that right). The trippy visual begins with Moore waking up from an intense nightmare, before going about her duties, like inspecting her new collection worn by Consani and Kendall Jenner. The rest of the film sees the Gucci head prepare for her birthday celebrations by gathering her children together, played by Page, Palmer and, inexplicably, Norton, who is only four years Moore’s junior. “Beneath the polished surface, Barbara struggles to balance everything,” continues the film’s synopsis. “When the night takes an unexpected turn, her carefully crafted façade cracks and teeters on collapse as the family attempts to find a new way.”

Scroll to the top of the page to watch the full film, and see the gallery below for Demna’s debut Gucci collection