Gucci presents ‘The Tiger’: a family, a brand, and the price of sustaining it all

On a Milanese night that combined the ceremonial with the cinematic, Gucci offered more than just a premiere. At the historic Palazzo Mezzanotte, the Italian fashion house presented The Tiger, a short film directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, featuring a high-caliber multigenerational cast and looks from Demna’s latest collection for the house, entitled Gucci: La Famiglia. The occasion marked not only a new chapter in the maison’s aesthetic narrative, but also a statement about the expansive role fashion plays in the construction of identity, power, and affection.

The film, which had its official debut during Milan Fashion Week, offers a stark and theatrical portrait of Barbara Gucci—played by Demi Moore—president of Gucci International and chairwoman of California. Barbara invites her children and a special guest to celebrate her birthday at the family residence. What begins as an impeccable evening, calibrated with the precision of a fashion editorial, deteriorates to reveal the emotional and structural fractures of a family ruled as much by legacy as by the anxiety of maintaining it.

Unlike traditional fashion films, which tend to lean toward image over narrative, The Tiger is a substantially literary work. In its 28 minutes, Jonze and Reijn construct an atmosphere of emotional claustrophobia where silences weigh as heavily as dialogue. The direction opts for an aesthetic reminiscent of 1970s European cinema—with long shots, muted colors, and contained dramatic tension—while the script seems guided by a central question: what happens when fashion ceases to be a symbol of success and becomes a shield against personal collapse?

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Demna, whose arrival at Gucci was one of the most talked-about moments in the industry in the last decade, continues to draw a line between the biographical and the institutional. The La Famiglia collection, first presented in June, manifests itself here as a system of visual signs that dialogues with the film’s script. Blazers with structured shoulders in virgin wool, dresses inspired by the wardrobe of Italian nonnas, ecclesiastical cloaks reinterpreted with sequins, and crinkled silk skirts with an air of relic: everything refers to nostalgia turned into trauma.

The cast is unparalleled. Edward Norton as the laconic and resentful eldest son; Elliot Page in a silent observer role that functions as the family’s external conscience; Keke Palmer as the disruptive element that triggers the destabilization of the Gucci ecosystem. Also featured are Julianne Nicholson, Heather Lawless, Alia Shawkat, and Kendall Jenner, the latter playing herself. Alex Consani manages to leave a lasting impression with his small but significant appearance. The casting offers an intersectional reading of power, lineage, and performativity.

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The tension culminates in a scene where Barbara, stripped of her artifice, collapses in the family garden. The camera lingers on the dress she is wearing—a sculptural black taffeta cape with crystal details—while the other characters watch her without approaching. At that moment, the garment ceases to be clothing and becomes a symbol of control that is disintegrating, of power that can no longer be sustained, of a brand that is forced to rethink itself.

The choice of Palazzo Mezzanotte as the venue for the premiere was not anecdotal. Historically the headquarters of the Italian stock exchange, the building embodies the system on which luxury houses have built their empires. At the end of the screening, an intimate dinner curated by Massimo Bottura—with a menu designed as a nod to the “family banquet”—rounded off the evening. In the center of the garden, a two-meter ice tiger slowly melted as guests—key figures from the worlds of art, fashion, and cinema—exchanged impressions with a mixture of admiration and bewilderment.