Gucci unveiled its Cruise 2025 collection at London’s Tate Modern, the world’s most visited museum of modern and contemporary art. Architecture, art and fashion come together in the Tanks of the Tate, where the Maison launched its three-year partnership with the museum. 

A week after Chanel’s Cruise presentation in Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, fashion once again meets architecture in a completely unconventional catwalk location, signalling a growing interest in former industrial spaces. The Tate Modern is the result of the conversion of the former Bankside Power Station, with a project by Herzog & de Meuron in 2000 and a further extension in 2016 that incorporates the oil storage tanks.

The articulation and raw aesthetic of these spaces are in keeping with the concept of the creative director, Sabato de Sarno, who for his first Cruise collection wanted to work on contrasts, drawing inspiration from the contradictions and heterogeneity that characterise London. “The return of the Maison is motivated by the desire to immerse ourselves in the unmistakable essence of the city, in its creative power, with its infinite capacity to relate contrasts and promote coexistence. The Tate Modern is the perfect setting to tell the story of the city, with its magnificent Turbine Hall, which welcomes and unites everyone, and its tanks, true generators of ideas”.

Indeed, the runway set focused on the antithesis between the harsh grey concrete and the “wild” vegetation that lined the models’ path, evoking the aesthetic of spontaneous nature in contrast to the decaying brutalist buildings. The monumental spiral concrete staircase serves as the starting point for the catwalk, where models walk in oversized jackets and ballet flats, embroidered fringes and jeans, as well as the limited edition revival of Gucci’s Blondie from the 1970s.

Contradictions abound, in keeping with the illuminated message on the museum's main façade: “Tate Modern - free and open to all”.