Gucci goes alfresco in Florence as it awaits rebirth under buzzy new creative boss

Struggling label produces upbeat parade of greatest hits on home turf while Demna completes stint at Balenciaga

If rebirth is what you want then Florence, home of the Renaissance, is a good place to start.

Gucci, which has just switched designers after a period of plunging sales – 24% down in the last quarter of 2024, and 25% down in the first of 2025 – showed its latest collection in a catwalk pageant that began in the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni, where the actors Paul Mescal, Viola Davis and Jeff Goldblum, a Florentine resident, had front-row seats, and continued outside to where Gucci employees and local fashion fans, seated in bars and cafes, watched an alfresco lap of the show. If you hit the factory-reset button in Florence, and make it glamorous, can you call it a renaissance button?