Dressed to Dazzle: How Emily Ratajkowski Owned Demna’s Gucci Debut in Head-to-Toe Crystal
Milan Fashion Week has always had an extraordinary talent for producing moments that transcend the runway and embed themselves permanently into the cultural conversation. This season, courtesy of Gucci’s seismic FW26 show at Palazzo delle Scintille, that moment arrived on the arm — and the legs — of Emily Ratajkowski.
Demna Gvasalia’s highly anticipated debut for the house was always going to be appointment viewing. With Kate Moss and Vivian Wilson among those walking, the guest list read like a carefully curated love letter to the nineties. But it was the 34-year-old model, author, and perpetual downtown it-girl who found herself at the absolute centre of the internet’s attention — for reasons both expected and surprisingly contentious.
Ratajkowski stepped onto the runway in a crystal-covered silver bodycon dress that left absolutely nothing to the imagination and everything to admire. The micro-mini silhouette, drenched in embellishment, felt precisely in sync with Demna’s signature collision of streetwear sensibility and high-octane glamour — a nineties throwback rendered in the most unapologetically modern terms. Crystal-encrusted pumps, a miniature matching purse, drop earrings, glittering bangles, and a wraparound ring completed an ensemble that committed fully, gloriously, to the art of excess.
Her beauty look was equally deliberate. Trading her signature loose brunette waves for a sleek sculpted updo — complete with a 2010s-coded side bang — Ratajkowski presented a version of herself that felt both nostalgic and freshly reinvented. Smoked-out black eyeshadow and a glossy nude lip sharpened the overall effect into something undeniably editorial.
Then came the walk. Hip-swiveling, deliberately theatrical, and entirely her own, Ratajkowski’s strut down the Gucci runway immediately went viral. Opinions, as they always do online, arrived uninvited and in abundance — some celebrating her confidence and commitment to the show’s energy, others less generous in their assessments. The debate itself, however, only amplified what was already an undeniable moment.
Off the runway, Ratajkowski’s personal life has equally captured public imagination. The My Body author recently confirmed her relationship with French filmmaker Romain Gavras via an Instagram carousel, following months of speculation since the pair were first spotted together in November 2025.
One thing, however, remains beyond debate: Emily Ratajkowski walked into Gucci’s new era and made it entirely her own.
