Welcome to another edition of the Fans Week Podcast, also on mediumwaves 1575 KHz. From Paris I’m Jessica Carter-Wilson.
Gucci’s Florence Pilgrimage: Luxury Brand Tries to Cure Sales Bleed with Sacred Tour
By Jessica Carter-Wilson | Fansweek.org | Florence, April 16, 2026
Today’s news: Gucci reported an 8 % drop in first‑quarter sales, with revenue plunging from €10.5 billion to roughly €6 billion. Kering’s flagship brand, once responsible for nearly 40 % of the group’s turnover, announced a strategy‑reset meeting in its birthplace, Florence, appointing Demna Gvasalia as creative director and Francesca Bellettini to reinforce governance.
The Real News Nobody Wanted
Today’s real news was this: Gucci recorded another 8% drop in first-quarter sales. Revenues have plunged from a peak of €10.5 billion down to roughly €6 billion. The brand that once accounted for nearly 40% of Kering’s turnover is in deep crisis. The response? A strategic summit in Florence, the city where the house was born in 1921, complete with a return to its roots, a new creative direction entrusted to Demna Gvasalia, and Francesca Bellettini brought in to strengthen governance. Luca de Meo, the former Renault CEO, promises to “rationalize, reorganize, and reposition” — as if desire could be optimized like an assembly line.
While Executives Pray with PowerPoint
Yet while Kering executives lit incense and Excel spreadsheets in front of ancient crucifixes, journalists — and even state television — had eyes only for another story: Jordan Bardella and Maria Carolina di Borbone delle Due Sicilie. Their relationship, the photos in Corsica, the romance between the rising star of the French right and the young princess. Hours of analysis, debates, and juicy details: when they first met (Monaco, Grand Prix 2025?), when they were seen again in Paris in January, and of course — because gossip is never enough — endless speculation about exactly when they first had intercourse.
Sex Sells Better Than Sales
It’s clearly more exciting. A dashing politician and a descendant of kings holding hands in Ajaccio deliver ratings. A luxury empire quietly bleeding out, with slides titled “Rationalize, Reorganize, Reposition” beside Renaissance relics, does not.
Corporate Catechism in Florence
The Florence meeting had the flavor of a corporate catechism lesson: “Let us align our KPIs with the soul of Guccio Gucci and the spirit of the customers will return.” Francesca Bellettini spoke of reconnecting with historical heritage, while Luca de Meo admitted that optimizing production is easier than optimizing desire. Meanwhile, talk shows and evening news debated whether the Bardella-Bourbon couple was a modern fairy tale, an electoral move, or simply proof that the public prefers the bedroom of a princess over the balance sheet of a fashion house.
Alchemy or Algorithms?
In 2026, with AI generating trends in real time, true luxury needs cultural alchemy, not Excel spreadsheets. Instead we have executives playing Saint Francis with PowerPoint while the media plays paparazzi with other people’s private lives.
The Real Crisis
Desire cannot be resurrected with a strategic summit. And journalistic credibility, it seems, cannot be either. Better a story of royal kisses than the silent collapse of a handbag empire.
Koan
A monk asked Zhaozhou: “Master, while Gucci is dying from falling sales, the journalists speak only of the relationship between Jordan Bardella and Maria Carolina di Borbone. Why?”
Zhaozhou replied: “Because a politician with a princess sells copies. A brand that has lost desire does not.”
The monk insisted: “But should they not report the economic reality instead of speculating on when the two first had intercourse?”
Zhaozhou said: “The desire for clicks is stronger than the desire for truth. Even the journalists have lost theirs, and now they seek it in other people’s beds.”
Another monk asked Zhaozhou: “Master, Luca de Meo brings his Excel sheets to Florence to save Gucci. Is this the way?”
Zhaozhou replied: “No. That is the way of automobiles. But handbags do not run on rails. And while everyone counts the embraces of Bardella, no one counts anymore the customers leaving Gucci stores empty-handed.”
That’s all from today: from Paris, I’m Jessica Carter-Wilson.