When dusk sets in, a gentle rattling can be heard amid soft flashes of light. It is the shimmying of beads, stir of sequins, and rustle of floor-length crepe as Gucci’s Ancora Notte steps into the night.
Photo: Greg Adamski
The inaugural collection of evening wear designed by Gucci’s newest creative director, Sabato De Sarno, Ancora Notte follows on poetically from the Ancora collection – the fashion house’s definitive new daywear wardrobe. First presented at the 2023 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Art+Film Gala on a star-studded runway of new and familiar faces like Jiahui Zhang, Fadia Ghaab, Nyajuok Gatdet and Vittoria Ceretti, the collection aims to bring a renewed vision to the maison’s long-standing ode to life when the sun goes down. It is a vision that is no less opulent, but sophisticated in its choice of materials, silhouettes and palettes.
Photo: Greg Adamski
Weaving a new vision of the glamour that Gucci has become synonymous with over time is no small task. It makes the collection’s parent name, Ancora (meaning ‘anchor’), all the more significant. To re-anchor the house in a contemporary sense of luxury, De Sarno went back in time – into the house’s archive spanning the ultra-feminine 1950s to the rebellious 90s, to be exact. Classic minaudière bags are reimagined with a nod to the iconic Jackie silhouette, while microshorts make a reappearance that would be cheeky if they weren’t accompanied by long, contours of embellished crepe dresses.
Photo: Greg Adamski
Stretching further into the art of refined embellishment, the collection also features coats and minidresses that dazzle without dizzying, while lace inserts and beaded fringes stand out more through their subtle tactile quality against flowing silhouettes. The boundary between day and night becomes more porous with Ancora Notte’s bow-lined cady dresses in deep tones, while long sleeves and daring lines invite us to make our own rules about what is daywear, what is evening wear, and how it all comes together.
Photo: Greg Adamski
What is perhaps most notable about Gucci Ancora Notte is not just its ode to Gucci’s textured archive, or its blurring of the lines between day and night. It is in De Sarno’s creative restraint in architecting what might just be Gucci’s own era of quiet power.
Style: Ahmed Rashwan
Hair: Deena Alawaid
Makeup: Arianna Scapola
Producer: Danica Zivkovic
Production: Dinika Govender
Lighting assistant: Jeff at Action Filmz
Style assistant: Rozeta Zatikyan
Model: Maria M
Location: Raspoutine Dubai