The great gamble

At the Gucci Ancora showcase in Singapore, Vogue India got within a hair’s breadth of Sabato De Sarno’s debut collection. ROCHELLE PINTO reports on the new direction

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It's fitting that Sabato De Sarno's debut collection kicked off its international tour in a former chapel. The air at Claudine, Singapore's trendiest new French bistro, is redolent with the aroma of butter being generously ladled over the evening's sustenance as accents from every corner of Asia-Pacific reverberate across the room. My fellow guests are acolytes of the Church of Gucci. And the new head priest is in modernization mode.

This evening, we've gathered to raise a toast to De Sarno's exacting vision. I presume it's a happy coincidence, but Claudine's scarlet ceiling is close to the intoxicating Rosso Ancora that the creative director threaded together from the archives and rebirthed on the Milan spring/summer 2024 runway.

And his rebrand doesn't stop with a fresh coat of paint.