Sabato De Sarno called his latest Gucci collection ‘Casual Grandeur’, and it certainly felt like that from first to last, in a packed-out high voltage show in a steamy Milan Friday.

Gucci’s recent results have been pretty awful – then again, many senior fashion labels have also suffered double-xdigit revenue falls in the past few quarters. But you would never have guessed that from this show, crammed full of stars, all of them looking extremely swish and sexy.
 
Kirsten Dunst came with husband, Julia Garner with her hubby Mark Foster; joining Solange Knowles, Dree and Mariel Hemingway, Debbie Harry, Nicola Coughlan, Sveva Alviti, Mark Ronson and Dakota Johnson. They all looked like they were having a very swell time. All testifying to the power of Gucci, still by far Italy’s largest brand.

Staged inside the city’s Rationalist era art institute, the Triennale, the mood was set again by the invite and runway – both done in De Sarno’s signature Gucci Rosso, or shiny burgundy. The invite was actual a naïve railway signpost, whose dates could be changed indefinitely. Reminding one that De Sarno’s main drive is refreshing Gucci’s DNA.
 
When he was appointed, Gucci executives made much of their desire to see a return to more classic Gucci, after the Venetian carnival and circus excesses of his predecessor Alessandro Michele. So, one cannot fault Sabato for following that brief.
 
He kicked of the action in black – mannish pants and boyish jerkins, before he upped the sizzle with very finely draped halter neck cocktails also in black, before coffee and Rosso, all anchored by a great new loafer boot. He did not hesitate to load on color. First with excellent sporty trenches and line patent leather coats; and of course, with a Gucci Bamboo in Rosso croco. 
 

See catwalk

Like last season, he showed lots of largely sheer lace dresses and columns in pastels, black and Rosso, the better to show off the boudoir underwear. Though the atmosphere got less grand with his posh punk leather fetish ideas – not looks for a gal who wants to crawl up in bed with a good book. Especially when they swept out in humungous GG monogram coats, very much ladies on the prowl.
 
Sabato’s handbags throughout were strong and compelling: a renewed Gucci 73 with horse bit on the side. And above all his fresh Gucci Bamboo selections: made with a softer handle; finished with lacquer or plexiglass; composed with Zebra stripes or completed with a big black kiss.
 
While the brand’s famed foulards were given new life as hippie chic headbands. A mood heightened by the Henleys trimmed in satin, micro bubble minis and immense cloche hats.
 
De Sarno ended this latest Gucci show with the famed Italian rock ballad, ‘Non Voglio Mica la Luna’, meaning ‘It’s Not Like I Want the Moon’, and one couldn’t help thinking that it was a cry for understanding in a very unforgiving industry.
 
“It’s the music I grew up with. I’m younger than that song, but my mother played it all the time,” he chuckled.
 
To be frank, it was hard to have an espresso in Milan this week without somebody in fashion asking you if you think this is De Sarno’s final show. Given the weak results of Gucci, that question has been on everyone’s lips in Italy’s current fashion season. But given the overall energy of this collection, and how darn well his front-row looked, maybe we can put away the P45 forms for a while, shall we?