As a stream of A-list celebrities took their seats in the basement of Tate Modern earlier this week for Gucci’s latest cruise collection, executives appeared relaxed. Seated next to his wife, Salma Hayek, François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of Gucci owner Kering, “beamed confidently”, wrote The Telegraph’s head of fashion Lisa Armstrong after the show. Pinault and Gucci’s 600 other guests, who included Debbie Harry, Demi Moore and Dua Lipa, had gathered to see the latest collection by Sabato De Sarno, the luxury brand’s new creative director, in his first show outside of Milan. After years of declining sales at Gucci, De Sarno has his work cut out in winning back customers. Last year, Kering revealed Gucci’s revenue had slipped another 6pc to €9.9bn (£8.5bn). It recently said that it was expecting profits across its business to fall as much as 45pc in the first six months of the year, placing the lion’s share of the blame at Gucci’s door. Increasingly, the poor performance is causing frustration among investors, who have seen the value of Pinault’s empire crumble. Shares in Kering are down 57pc since their peak in August 2021, giving it a market value of €41bn. It is a bitter...