Story by Editor-at-Large CAROLINA OGLIARO
Demna Builds Vocabulary with La Famiglia
With La Famiglia, Demna opens a new chapter at Gucci ahead of tomorrow’s Milan runway, offering a glimpse into how he intends to bend the house’s mythology to his will. More than a preview, the collection feels like an initiation: introducing characters that embody the shifting codes of “Gucciness,” not as static icons but as living figures in a narrative of identity, intimacy, and theatricality.
The language is deliberately tailoring and archival nods woven alongside louder gestures of distortion, as if to remind us that family is never seamless, it’s about friction, memory and reinvention. In these early images, you sense Demna’s instinct for turning heritage into story, reshaping logos and silhouettes into something that carries both weight and irreverence.
With Gucci navigating transition and pressure, Demna seems less concerned with spectacle and more intent on building a vocabulary that is lasting, one rooted in community and character rather than trend. La Famiglia becomes a metaphor for the brand’s future, close, dramatic, sometimes contradictory but bound by a shared identity that promises to evolve far beyond a single season.
Richard Quinn’s Opulent Sculptures
Richard Quinn presented a show that felt like a metamorphosis, the designer leaning fully into his dual language of romantic excess and dramatic precision. This season, Quinn presented a tribute and a thrust forward: a nod to tradition, to grandeur and yet a refusal to dwell in the past. The setting was theatrical, sweeping floral prints draping the walls, veiled crowns echoing royal ceremonial dress, black gowns that paid homage, then broken by bursts of colour: violet, scarlet, emerald. It was weight, and lightness; ornament and architecture.
The silhouettes ranged from sculpted bodices married to opulent volume to sleek bodysuits edged with armour-like detail, latex panels, and jumpsuits that felt part couture myth, part urban armour. Texture was one of his chief tools: velvet, jacquard, lace, beading, rosettes, oversized and defiant, yet always anchored in craftsmanship. Details like oversized rose corsages, crystal embellishment, even veils and crowns weren’t decorative afterthoughts; they were part of a chorus of voices Quinn uses to converse with history, memory, identity. Quinn balanced spectacle and poise; he subtler-edged his drama with moments of stillness: a pale blue gown with soft ballooning skirt, a lavender cape trailing behind, letting fabric speak where flash would blink. With SS26, it’s clear Quinn is consolidating his aesthetic: the floral fantasia and maximalism are still there, but now sculpted into forms that feel more intentional, more wearable even in their fantasy.
MITHRIDATE’s Intersection Between British and Chinese Craftmanship
MITHRIDATE’s SS26 landed like a second wind: under Daniel Fletcher’s direction, the brand continues to redefine its voice at the intersection of British heritage and Chinese craftsmanship. The collection opened with a pulse, pieces that feel both familiar and slightly askew. There were rugby-shirts reborn in sequins, preppy knits re-scaled, and sharp tailoring softened by unexpected proportions. The texture work was especially strong: playful stripes and colour-blocked knits paired with glossy finishes and leather, all grounded in foundational pieces that breathe: trousers with relaxed cuts, shirts undone, outerwear split in volume.
Colour was used as punctuation. Muted tones of gray, cream, navy anchored the collection; flashes of vibrant reds, electric blues, and pastel yellow lit up key looks, drawing all eyes to the unexpected edges. Styling leaned into that friction, loafers with socks, relaxed suiting over sheer layers, ornate embelishments turned subtle. What felt most potent was how each look lived in tension: structured yet loose, polished yet rebellious.
This is MITHRIDATE stepping into maturity, not by shedding its boldness but by learning how to temper it. The collections show continued ambition, proving that with Fletcher at the helm, the brand doesn’t just speak of heritage but reinterprets it for now: for wardrobes that demand both identity and innovation.
