Gucci is using Kate Moss and a seductive soundtrack to sell Demna's first collection that has to reverse nine straight quarters of falling revenue.
The fashion house has released "And We Shall Dance Again," a campaign film for its Primavera collection directed by Johan Renck and produced by Reset.
The campaign is Demna's first major ad push since his debut runway show for Gucci.
It also has real money riding on it.
Gucci revenue fell 9% to €2.76 billion in the first half of 2026, though Q2 cut the comparable decline to 2% from 8% in Q1.
Kering called it Gucci's strongest sequential acceleration in several quarters, which leaves Primavera holding the line.
Gucci describes Primavera as a collection about rebirth and renaissance, with falling in love providing the central metaphor.
Moss returns in the same full-length sequined gown she wore to close the Primavera show in Milan in February.
The repeat gives the campaign a direct visual link to Demna's runway debut.
Moss anchors a cast Gucci has stacked across four continents, with 10 figures from fashion, music, film, and sport appear alongside her.
These include Tom Brady, Shawn Mendes, Alex Consani, Rico Nasty, Jin, NINGNING, Xiao Zhan, EsDeeKid, Lee Young Ae, and Tarzzan.
A separate portrait series by Michal Chelbin extends the campaign into still imagery.
Chelbin shoots each subject alone, in compositions inspired by Renaissance painting.
The two formats give Gucci a recognizable visual identity under a new creative leader.
Gucci Lets the Film Do the Selling
The film stars Moss lip-syncing to Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" in a room full of strangers.
They wake up one by one, find each other, and end up on the dance floor wearing Primavera pieces.
Renck, who directed HBO's "Chernobyl" and music videos for Madonna and Beyoncé, stages the film in a dark interior of wood and deep green fabrics.
The atmosphere gradually warms up as the characters come to life and start finding each other.
The approach gives the collection a narrative role presented in a way that's unconventional for fashion catalogues.
The film handles the storytelling, while Chelbin's portraits give Gucci cut-down brand assets for editorial, social, and product placements.
Three Ways a Creative Reset Sells Product
There is a commercial reason to give one collection that many entry points.
Tinuiti’s 2025 apparel marketing study found that 33% of respondents purchased apparel based on an online influencer’s recommendation.
This figure compares with 27% who did so based on an actor, musician, or athlete.
The gap suggests the 10-name cast is the weaker half of this campaign.
Renck's film has to do the work because it's the piece that creators will clip, remix, and pass around.
Here are a few takeaways for marketers running similar launches:
- Give a leadership change its own look: A new creative director needs a setting, a soundtrack, and a casting logic that read as one decision.
- Build two assets from one premise: A narrative film and a still series can share an emotional idea while serving different placements.
- Make music part of the brand memory: A licensed track gives short-form cutdowns an audio cue that survives the edit.
Gucci now has a reusable creative platform it can restock each season, which beats reinventing its brand identity during every drop.
Our Take: Can Gucci Make a New Era Feel Familiar?
We think that Gucci is paying Moss to make Demna's new era look and feel inevitable.
So yes, the familiarity works here, because Moss has enough house history to vouch for a stranger's vision.
Love is a wonderfully old-fashioned excuse to make expensive clothes look slightly dangerous.
The commercial half is harder. Gucci cut its comparable revenue decline to 2% in Q2, so Primavera gets judged on sell-through.
But one brand film can't fix the over-distribution and weak cultural relevance that Kering has admitted to in Western Europe and China.
We'd watch whether the next campaign keeps this world or starts over, because creative churn costs luxury houses more customers than bad clothes do.
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