XG kicked off its world tour in Japan last month — but group member Cocona has already started clocking international miles.
The Japanese rapper recently traveled to Milan Fashion Week to attend Demna’s debut runway show as creative director of the house. In early February, Gucci introduced Cocona as its newest brand ambassador, and last week they joined other brand collaborators including Aryna Sabalenka, Lee Know, Jay Park, Alia Bhatt and Gulf Kanawut in the front row.
Cocona’s ambassador announcement arrived shortly after the late January release of XG’s debut studio album The Core. Formerly known as “Xtraordinary Girls,” the group reintroduced themselves as “Xtraordinary Genes” at the start of 2026, after Cocona publicly shared they had undergone top surgery and identify as transmasculine nonbinary. For the Gucci show in Milan, Cocona wore a black two-piece Gucci suit that paid proud homage to their identity.
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Here, Cocona shares more of their experience from the show, why they are excited to work with Gucci, and what to expect from XG’s ongoing tour.
WWD: What were some highlights of attending the Gucci show and being in Milan for fashion week?
Cocona: The Gucci show left a deep impression on me. It felt like witnessing the moment a new life is born.
I kept thinking, during the show and even after it ended, about why it made me feel that way. The moment life begins is so mysterious. It’s a beginning, and it can feel like everything is revealed all at once. And yet it’s also fleeting and fragile, and that’s exactly what makes it beautiful. There’s a powerful message in that.
Because the show carried an essential message that made me reflect on what it means to be human, what this Earth is and even what the universe is, I felt like it gave me a chance to think about those things again.
Everything was incredible, the atmosphere of the show, the energy in the room, the clothes, the way the models moved down the runway, their expressions and attitude, and the lighting. I was truly moved and inspired by the strength at the core of Gucci and Demna, and their commitment to getting to the essence of things. It gave me courage and a light of hope, and left me feeling deeply stimulated and emotional.
For me, with the mission I carry as XG, this show brought me back to my starting point, and to the original mindset I began with, and made me think again about what I want to feel in this life and what I want to communicate to the world. It was truly an incredible show.
I’m so grateful I was able to see it in person and experience it with my own senses.
WWD: How did you land on your look for the show?
Cocona: When I first saw this look, and then tried it on against my own skin, it really struck a chord with me. It was a moment where I genuinely felt, from the bottom of my heart, “I’m OK just as I am.”
So when I wore this look, I felt a strong desire to turn what I felt inside into a message, and to share it with as many people as possible through my presence and the way I show up. I’d be happy if even one more person felt that feeling through this look.
WWD: Why are you excited to work with Gucci as the brand’s newest ambassador?
Cocona: Gucci is, to me, a fresh and revolutionary source of inspiration, a kind of light.
I’m truly excited to listen closely to the messages I receive from Gucci, let them resonate within me and then share them with so many people.
Because there is so much to learn from Gucci, I also see this as a personal challenge, how I can take what I’m given, grow it and nurture it within myself, and carry it through the process of expressing it back out to people, to the Earth and even to the universe.
I want to sincerely express my respect and gratitude to Gucci for giving me this opportunity.
WWD: XG is in the middle of a new world tour, following the release of “The Core” in January. How has it felt to perform the new album live for audiences? What are your goals and hopes for upcoming performances?
Cocona: I think there are times when the essence is still there, unchanged, always with us, and yet we lose sight of it — or even start to wonder — if it’s really there at all. But I believe it’s going to be OK.
Everything has meaning, and I feel like it’s also a message meant to take us to the universe.
This tour is a place where we are being born again. It feels like a tour that lets us reaffirm who we are and reconnect with our essence and our 初心 [original intent], an old yet new tour filled with soul.
I want to deliver love, hope and light to as many people as possible, to life itself, to the Earth and even to the universe. And one of my goals is to keep going until I can see everyone take XG’s message and turn it into something even stronger.
I hope that the core within each of us can evolve once again. From the bottom of my heart, I truly hope we can make this kind of tour a reality.