What a difference a different colour and an Oscar-winning composer can make to a fashion show, as Gucci showed in its first post-Sabato De Sarno collection in Milan on Tuesday.
 
The debut show of the six-day Milan Fashion Week, the show and set were useful reminders of Gucci brand power, something far too many people have forgotten lately.
 
Gone was the deep purple that obsessed the banished creative director. Instead, the green room, invitations, curtains, and banquette seating inside the huge show space were hearty Castleton green. Even the catwalks were done in two massive interlocking green Gs.

 
Presented inside Superstudio Maxi, a giant party club in south Milan, the show was blessed with a fantastic original soundtrack by Justin Hurwitz, who won two Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score for La La Land. He energetically conducted a live chamber orchestra before a front row, where Kering CEO and Gucci patron François-Henri Pinault sat beside Julia Garner, Jessica Chastain, Parker Posey, Jannik Sinner, Yara Shahidi, Dev Patel, Xiao Zhan, and Wen Qi—not bad going for a house without a designer.
 
A rousing performance that drove forward this show and collection, a cautious yet snappy array of Gucci hits over several decades created by the in-house design team. Ranging from ’60s fur and deep mohair peacoats; to knee-length skirts slit up the side, big-button tunics, or some perfectly cut Donegal tweed business suits. Dolce Vita damsels out for a stroll, certain to make heads turn.

 
All the way to the 90s slip dresses, oversized coated blazers with peak collars, or bouclé wool mini cocktails. Best of all were the interlocking G-print velvet dresses and the semi-sheer skirts paired with velour leotards and worn with gold stirrup pendants, adding plenty of oomph. All this was worn with several new takes on the 1955 horse-bit bag that looked very commercial.
 
There was a time under Alessandro Michele, when the Gucci girl looked like she lived in Brooklyn. None of these girls looked like they ever took a subway. 
 
Halfway through, the chamber orchestra changed rhythms and out came the menswear collection, featuring a sharp new double-breasted suit with an elongated jacket and slim pants, slashed at the back at the ankle and worn with natty leather slippers. Noting too awe-inspiring, but decent merch as were some great scrawny mohair cardigans. Though quite why there were six versions of the same coat, albeit in different materials was hard to comprehend.

  
“We wanted to make a brand statement,” said Gucci CEO Stefano Cantino. And the house most certainly did with an excellently staged show that ended with a score of young designers taking a joint bow at the bandstand. All dressed in Castleton green sweatshirts.

Despite it being one of those foggy days when clouds descend like lumpy porridge from the Alps and Milan looks very mournful, several thousand fans swarmed around outside, cheering each star as they exited. Gucci may have suffered several tricky years and seen revenues fall 20% in the most recent quarter, but judging by these fans; the label is still a major cult marque.
 
The house was mum about the eventual successor to De Sarno, though an announcement is expected in the next several weeks – with Hedi Slimane the designer with the shortest odds.
 
Business may have been weak but there is plenty of life in the house of Gucci.