Gucci Takes Cruise 2024 to Seoul — and Gives Us More Hints About Its New Direction
Photo: Courtesy of Gucci
On Tuesday, Gucci joined the ranks of fashion brands turning their attention to South Korea, staging its Cruise 2024 runway show in Seoul. Set against the majestic backdrop of the city's Gyeongbokgung Palace, a historic cultural landmark, the presentation also celebrated the 25-year anniversary of Gucci's first Korean flagship, which opened in 1998. (Gucci was originally meant to stage a cruise show in Seoul last year; the show was canceled due to the Itaewan tragedy).
This is still a transitional era for the brand; Cruise 2024 follows Alessandro Michele's Twinsburg send-off and acts as a precursor to the forthcoming debut of new creative director Sabato De Sarno this September. The house continues to rely on the Gucci studio for design direction, just as it did for Gucci's Fall 2023 ready-to-wear and Fall 2023 men's collections, both of which seemed to point toward a more minimalist aesthetic for the label.
Photo: Courtesy of Gucci
Like the Fall 2023 collection, Cruise 2024 features looks inspired by the brand's archives, specifically from its '90s and early 2000s Tom Ford era. The house made several references to those designs, with cleverly placed metal hardware on jackets and sumptuous fur coats.
Layers were a recurrent element on the runway: Models wore long leather overcoats with metallic zippers over baggy jeans, silver sleeves with detachable components and motorcore-inspired tops over bubble skirts — looks that all spoke to the versatility and practicality of the collection. The pieces were also styled with accessories like thick-soled boots, long white driving gloves and sports goggles. Meanwhile, models carried unexpected accessories — skateboards, surfboards and snowboards — further infusing the collection with a sense of sporty ease and movement. (Nearly every model also carried a handbag, so not all of the accessories were quite so unpredictable.)
Based on what Gucci has presented for these "in-between" collections, it seems like the house might heading toward more commercial, merchandisable items and tapping into trends like "stealth wealth." This is reinforced by the number of individually wearable pieces, which are more accessible to a greater audience (aesthetically, if not financially).
Photo: Courtesy of Gucci
Correction: An earlier version of this story was updated to clarify that Gucci's Cruise 2023 show was not "moved" from Seoul to Puglia.
