Gucci gave the Demna era a soft hybrid launch, turning a short film red carpet on evening into a preview runway

Demi Moore arrives for the premiere of the short film "The Tiger," directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring the first looks by Gucci's new creative director, Demna, in Milan, northern Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

MILAN (AP) — Gucci soft launched its new era under artistic director Demna, turning a short film red carpet on Tuesday evening into a preview runway.

Instead of the runway glare, Demna showcased his Gucci premiere looks in a film by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn starring Demi Moore as a Gucci heiress struggling to find her identity and in a meta moment on the film's red carpet.

Demi Moore as the Heiress

In the 30-minute short called “The Tiger,” Moore goes through multiple on-screen wardrobe changes worthy of a Gucci heiress. She dons a red collared coat adorned with a hand-sized floral brooch as she courts the approval of a magazine writer played by Ed Harris. Then, she wears a baroque floral gown with structured sleeves in a contessa role for a family dinner with her wayward children played by Elliot Page, Keke Palmer and Edward Norton.

Demna called the collection “La Famiglia,’’ featuring archetypes that showed up both on the red carpet and in the film: Palmer wore a frothy pink gown in her role as the family princess, Page a tuxedo as the hard-driving, approval-seeking son and Norton in a tie-less dark suit and buttoned-up shirt as the ne’er-do-well.

Digital drop, red carpet previews

As part of Gucci's series of reveals, all of the looks were digitally dropped on Instagram on the eve of Milan Fashion Week on Monday, setting the fashion world aflutter. Insiders crooned over references to Gucci's sexy era of the 1990s under Tom Ford and the more recent eclectic era under Alessandro Michele, with some new Demna notes familiar to his time at Balenciaga.

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Demi Moore arrives for the premiere of the short film "The Tiger," directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring the first looks by Gucci's new creative director, Demna, in Milan, northern Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The red carpet brought the looks to life, with Gwyneth Paltrow as the “VIP” in a Gucci logo pussy-bow blouse, midi-skirt and knee-boot combo, and Serena Williams as the “It Girl” in a sheer black dress with feather finishes.

Gucci turning point

Demna took over creative direction of the Italian luxury fashion house in July, following Sabato de Sarno's exit after less than two years.

In a sign of the fashion house’s importance to the Kering Group owner, Kering chairman François-Henri Pinault showed up for the film/collection premier in a purpose-built theater inside Milan’s stock exchange building with the group's new CEO, Luca de Meo, a former Italian car executive.

One member of the film audience wore a coat from the brief collab uniting Gucci under Michele and Balenciaga under Demna in 2021, which seems prescient now that the switch has been made complete.

The film, the collection and the cast received warm applause. The next test comes on Thursday when the see-now buy-now collection goes on sale in 10 stores worldwide, including Milan, Paris, London, New York City and Los Angeles.

Gwyneth Paltrow arrives for the premiere of the short film "The Tiger," directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring the first looks by Gucci's new creative director, Demna, in Milan, northern Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Elliot Page arrives for the premiere of the short film "The Tiger," directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring the first looks by Gucci's new creative director, Demna, in Milan, northern Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Serena Williams arrives for the premiere of the short film "The Tiger," directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring the first looks by Gucci's new creative director, Demna, in Milan, northern Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)