A lot was riding on the Gucci Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear collection. For one, it's the first menswear collection by creative director Sabato De Sarno; the other reason is that it's a follow-up to a debut that had fashion insiders and fans split. In some cases, the latest effort by De Sarno was similar to his debut, but better—much, much better.

Gucci Ancora took on a slightly different meaning as compared to De Sarno's debut. While the overarching theme of wanting to make people fall in love with Gucci again was apparent, the Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear collection takes it a step further. Embedded into the line-up—starting from the opening look—were a number of ensembles that mirrored the womenswear debut. They're tweaked slightly, but the spirit was essentially the same. Heck, even the Mark Ronson-curated soundtrack (the man was also in attendance) was an intentional repeat.

The difference—and brilliantly so—was that the menswear collection felt more complete. There's no telling how De Sarno felt post-debut of his very first collection, but if any of the naysayers got to him, this collection felt like he was hell bent on proving them wrong.

The fit: Perhaps, De Sarno is a better menswear designer than he is at womenswear. Because the tailoring (a perennial key tenet of any menswear collection, pretty much) was impeccable. Instead of opting for the easy way out by pandering to current style obsessions, the cut of trousers were slim with enough give for a sleek and clean bottom half. The top was left slightly oversized, but proportionally just right such that the flow and fluidity of floor-grazing coats felt dramatic without weighing one down.

Tailoring may have run rampant throughout the collection, but they were anything but staid or stuffy. Print and patterns seem to not be something that De Sarno may be leaning towards—save for the GG monogram—but colours are clearly his specialty (perhaps something that he picked up during his time at Valentino). Surprisingly, the deep shade of red that's becoming a De Sarno signature for Gucci, was not heavily used throughout the collection. Instead, the additional colours employed ran along the same tonal shades as the new Gucci red. This not only added on to the cohesive nature of the collection, but also elevated it to be rather universal across different ages.

That's not to say that there were no statement pieces; in fact, far from it. In place of ties, a necklace-scarf hybrid was the centre of attention consisting of leather pieces connected by metallic hardware with the former attached to a slender strip of fabric. Each swayed as models walked—a sense of romantic flou that was both refreshing and much needed. And if Harry Styles or Måneskin were to return as part of the Gucci fold, they'd certainly gravitate towards the metallic fringed pieces that exuded the kind of gender-fluid sensibility Gucci had made its own.

The details: As predicted, the Jackie continues to be the focus for the House. Rendered in plenty of iterations—albeit kept a tad simpler and less showy than the female versions—including a thoroughly embellished version, the menswear Jackies were constructed significantly larger.

But what wasn't easily seen on the livestream, were the backs of the looks. De Sarno skilfully ensured that the backs of most, if not all, the looks were crafted as beautifully as the front. Some coats featured a hint of the Gucci webbing right on the vent, while leather coats were embossed with "Gucci" right at centre back along the hem. The drapes and silhouettes too felt devastatingly dramatic from the back—of mystique that you'd want a person wearing a piece to walk by again.

Three exceptional looks: Look 5's ultra clean combination of a long sleeveless coat paired with the collection's trousers as well as studded Horsebit loafers; look 13's all-over GG monogram in red; and look 51's sparkly oversized tank that I would very much like to cop immediately.

The takeaway: Don't strike off De Sarno's Gucci just yet.

View the full Gucci Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear collection in the gallery below.