Demna is Gucci’s new creative director

Demna Balenciaga Gucci — Georgian designer Demna, who is heading to Gucci after a decade at Balenciaga (Image credit: Demna)

After much speculation about who might be next in line at Gucci, the wait is finally over. Today, news came that Demna is to become the Italian house’s new creative director. His arrival follows Sabato De Sarno’s two-year spell at the brand, which has been without a creative lead since September 2024.

Demna leaves a decade-long stewardship at Balenciaga for the role. Taking the reins of the Parisian house in 2015, the Georgian designer's tenure at Balenciaga has been one of the most distinctive in its history. Blending alternative ideas of beauty with streetwear, irony, celebrity and political commentary, Demna (formerly known as Demna Gvasalia) transformed the storied brand into a pop cultural juggernaut.

Demna is heading to Gucci

Balenciaga runway at Paris Fashion Week A/W 2025 — A look from Demna’s A/W 2025 collection for Balenciaga, which will be his last

Gucci’s appointment of the designer marks its latest attempt to secure a strong leader following Alessandro Michele’s departure in 2023. Michele’s extravagant, kitschy brand of romanticism saw the house enjoy several years of creative and commercial growth, and it has been in a state of flux since his exit. Having successfully steered a heritage luxury house into contemporary relevance, Demna’s decade at Balenciaga could indicate that he’s at Gucci for the long run.

Demna was born in Soviet Georgia in 1981 and fled to Germany as a refugee during the Georgian Civil War – an experience that he says has deeply influenced his work. He studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp before co-founding Vetements and later becoming the creative director of Balenciaga. From Ikea dupes to trashed sneakers, Demna has consistently challenged what luxury means, making the ugly or mundane desirable, while twisting design traditions from tailoring and couture to oddly beautiful new extremes.

Gucci A/W 2025 — Gucci’s A/W 2025 runway collection, which was designed by an in-house team after Sabato De Sarno’s departure

His haute couture collections for the house have proved particularly arresting, applying centuries-old technique to his provocative and contemporary designs. ’We’ve become numb to the beauty of the world. Why don’t we see the beauty anymore? We need it to survive,’ he told Wallpaper* in 2024, discussing his ‘52nd’ couture collection with Dal Chodha.

Under Demna’s direction we can expect an experimental, provocative interpretation of Gucci’s codes – a vision that might retain glimmers of the eclectic playfulness of Michele’s era, but in the designer's own irreverent style. His first collection for Gucci will likely be unveiled this September in Milan, following the brand’s leaderless A/W 2025 runway last month, which was crafted by the many minds and hands that make up its immense design studio.

Demna Balenciaga Fall 2023 Couture Collection photographed in Paris Salon — Demna’s ‘52nd’ couture collection for Balenciaga, as featured in Wallpaper*

Presenting a foundational wardrobe of varied, horsebit-gilded glamour that plucked freely from its eras and icons, the co-ed collection was shown on an interlocking double-G runway, which was established by Guccio Gucci’s son – Aldo Gucci – exactly 50 years ago. This appointment will see Demna take these histories into his hands – all eyes will be on Milan to see how he remoulds them anew.

‘I am truly excited to join the Gucci family. It is an honour to contribute to a house that I deeply respect and have long admired,’ Demna said in a statement. ‘I look forward to writing a new chapter of Gucci’s amazing story.’

gucci.com

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Orla Brennan is a London-based fashion and culture writer who previously worked at AnOther, alongside contributing to titles including Dazed, i-D and more. She has interviewed numerous leading industry figures, including Guido Palau, Kiko Kostadinov, Viviane Sassen, Craig Green and more.