Did you notice that Gucci didn’t have a presence at the Met Gala last week. No Gucci and no Valentino (at least not in a significant way) either, as both houses are resetting after the departure of Pierpaolo Picciolo at Valentino and Alessandro Michele brought him to replace him, which of course followed his exit from Gucci at the end of 2022. 

 

Gucci flourished under Michele in the first few years of his run, and that peaked probably right after COVID started perhaps because of behind-the-scenes drama but maybe because the excess of that era had run its course? 

 

Doesn’t mean that Gucci isn’t relevant, it’s just not nearly as hot as it was in the late 2010s so I’m curious about the new direction for the house under Sabato De Sarno whose vibe is less Jared Leto and more … Andrew Scott? We talked about Andrew and Paul Mescal at the Gucci Cruise show (Sabato’s first) in today’s site open but they weren’t the only celebrities in attendance. That front row was stacked. 

For starters, Solange was there. And that’s a major get. Solange was in olive green, a sparkly tank dress and a beautiful pair of boots. 

Solange Knowles arrives at the Gucci Cruise 2025 Fashion Show at Tate Modern on May 13, 2024 in London, England.
 

Demi Moore was also in attendance, after serving at the Met Gala and ahead of what’s expected to be a big presence in Cannes. The Hollywood Reporter is predicting that Demi will make a splash at the festival this year with a new film to promote and she’s the Chopard godmother this year which means she’ll be at the gala and likely attending one of the most highly anticipated red carpets at the Palais: Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness. Which would be her first time there since 1997 when she was with Bruce Willis for the now classic film, The Fifth Element. Here’s what that looked like – and the fit holds up!

Bruce Willis and emi Moore arrive for the premiere of the Fifth Element at the 50th Cannes Film Festival, 1997
 

Kate Moss was also at Gucci last night. And Dua Lipa. And Salma Hayek with husband Francois-Henri Pinault whose company owns the brand. So it’s a solid turnout for Gucci and it’ll be interesting to see whether or not there will more hype around the house in a year or so as they get deeper into their new direction. 

One last note on the attendees… two of my girl crushes were there. Rina Sawayama, basically the coolest motherf-cker ever: 

 

And Wang Churan who, along with Zhang Linghe, was one of two mainland Chinese actors invited. In my opinion, Wang Churan had the best fit. 

But can we talk about her face? She was in a C-drama last year called Fireworks of My Heart (it wasn’t that good) with her rumoured boyfriend Yang Yang and it was the first time I’d watched one of her shows, and the only reason I stayed with it was to look at her. She is stunning. And she reminds me of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, the Asian version, do you see it too? 

 

Look at this face!