'Brilliant artist': Provocateur Demna takes on slumping Gucci
- Demna, the 44-year-old designer, is set to conclude his tenure at Balenciaga with a final presentation on Wednesday and will take on his new role at Gucci the following day.
- He built Balenciaga's success over a decade with provocative designs and showmanship, increasing annual sales from $350 million to about $2 billion by 2022.
- Demna has faced controversy, including a February 2023 apology for an ad campaign with underage models resembling bondage gear, and his work often reflects his childhood trauma from fleeing war in Georgia.
- Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault described Demna's impact as significant and emphasized that his innovative vision is precisely the type of creativity Gucci requires, especially considering the brand's sales decline last year.
- Demna's move represents a challenging step to revive Gucci, a key Kering brand, while investors reacted with a 12 percent share drop following the announcement.
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74 Articles
Georgian Stylist, new artistic director of Gucci ...
‘Brilliant artist’: Provocateur Demna takes on slumping Gucci
Celebrated, controversial and clearly up for a challenge, fashion designer Demna is set to step into one of the most difficult jobs in the luxury clothing industry next week as chief creative at struggling Gucci. The 44-year-old, who fled the war-wracked Georgian region of Abkhazia as a child and dropped his surname "Gvasalia" in 2021,

'Brilliant artist': Provocateur Demna takes on slumping Gucci
Celebrated, controversial and clearly up for a challenge, fashion designer Demna is set to step into one of the most difficult jobs in the luxury clothing industry next week as chief creative at struggling Gucci.
The departure of designer Demna of the Balenciaga brand is the main novelty of the Paris High Costure Week that opens on Monday, with 27 parades in programming. The 44-year-old Georgian designer will present his latest collection for the brand on Wednesday, before going to Gucci. And that is just one of the elements that add to the “drama” that is lived in the world of fashion today, after the intense changes that have occurred in the artistic d…
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