Demna unveils new Gucci vision at Milan Fashion Week with skin-tight minidress

MILAN (AP) — Set in the shadow of classical statuary, Demna offered a new vision for Gucci during Milan Fashion Week on Friday starting with a skin-tight white minidress and clean muscle T-shirts showing off the chiseled human form.

He called the looks palette cleansers, and the models moved with morning-after swagger. The body-con silhouette transitioned into slim trousers and tops for him, leggings and long clingy dresses for her — very much evoking Tom Ford’s sex-fueled Gucci heyday.

There were also a couple of nods to more recent Gucci alum Alessandro Michele, Valentino’s creative director who had a front-row seat and once collaborated with Demna when he was at Balanciaga. Those tributes included a floral gown, a daysuit with a pussybow and furry slip-on shoes.

Demna is in full embrace of the archetype and his notion of classical sensuality came through in an asymmetrical white dress that draped and opened into a full slit. Some classic Gucci mainstays were in short supply, like overcoats and suits. The collection was also light on Gucci branding.

Other archetypes, or less flatteringly put stereotypes, included reference to the sciura, or posh Milanese upper-class women in pretty dresses topped with eco-fur stoles, at odds with the so-called maranza, suburban males known for their long on top, buzz-cut sides hairdos, sagging pants and slouching walk — all on display on the Gucci runway.

Kate Moss closed the show in a glittering evening gown that plunged in the back to reveal a double-G-branded thong. Moss moved sensually down the long, dark runway, soaking in the moment.

Demna titled his first runway show for Gucci “Primavera,” Italian for “spring,” suggesting both a new season but also taking inspiration from Sandro Botticelli’s masterpiece hanging in Florence’s Uffizi, and an inspiration for Gucci’s floral patterns — seen primarily in the Gucci gown.

The designer took immediate distance from any intellectual parsing of his message, and cut any links between Gucci and high fashion.

In notes, Demna said the collection “is built around a sense of pragmatism.’’ He said he wanted his Gucci “to become lighter, softer, more refined, more elaborate, more emotional, even senseless sometimes. I don’t want Gucci to be intellectual, but I want Gucci to be a feeling.”

Translation: Gucci is for the masses — at least those who can afford it — and not for the rarified couture world. In that vein, Gucci announced that some of the collection would be available for immediate sale in the see-now, buy-now formula.

“My vision of Gucci is about the coexistence of heritage and fashion … Gucci only exists when both are in sync,’’ Demna wrote. “This first Gucci show introduces a universe of people, archetypes, consumers and dress codes that will shape my design language moving forward.’’

Front row guests included Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Donatella Versace and Demi Moore — who arrived in a fitted leather ensemble carrying her dog Pilaf.