Alessandro Michele's tribute to Stanley Kubrick for new Gucci Exquisite campaign

«A garment, for me, is never just a piece of cloth», Alessandro Michele explains in a message accompanying the images of the new Gucci Exquisite campaign, «rather the tool through which we are able to narrate who we decide to be [...]. This is why I have always thought of my collections as films». That Michele was passionate about cinema was no mystery: from Fellini's Satyricon to Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, the dreams and nightmares of directors and filmmakers from around the world have always been a source of inspiration for him. But the Gucci Exquisite campaign focuses on a single auteur, Stanley Kubrick, defined by the brand's creative director as a «filmmaker philosopher» capable «of constructing stories always overfilled with meaning, of conveying narratives capable of crossing boundaries and igniting labels». 

Another interesting point of connection between the legendary director's and his own work lies in their respective approach to and worship of pop culture: «The greatest questions about the meaning of life become pop images», Michele continues talking about Kubrick, «everything becomes an iconic image, symbolically refined but capable of being deposited within a decidedly popular culture. In the end, I chose Kubrick for this, too». Kubrick as a champion of pop - that same pop in which, in a nostalgic and maximalist sense, Michele rereads and rewrites the categories of the century-old brand he is at the helm of. The clothes therefore live an augmented existence and «are transformed into imaginative prostheses functional to the telling of a story».

And indeed, the iconic images of The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon mingle perfectly with the multifaceted aesthetics of the Exquisite collection: the Victorian-style adidas suit peeps out among 18th-century English gentlemen, furs and pearls appear alongside the masked cultists of Eyes Wide Shut, the utterly eerie Overlook Hotel is populated not only with its ghosts but also with models wearing the looks seen this summer at Castel del Monte. Syncretism, hybridization of figures and suggestions mixed in an effervescence of themes, icons and images that is only seemingly chaotic. Just as Michele played, for this collection, with hyper-recognizable pop culture icons such as adidas logos, Kubrick's images are now also «recognizable on a par with the Sistine Chapel, the Virgin of the Rocks, or the Simpsons».

CREDITS:

 Creative Director: Alessandro Michele

Art Director: Christopher Simmonds 

Photographers & Directors: Mert & Marcus  

Make up: Thomas De Kluyver

Hair: Paul Hanlon

 “With thanks to University of the Arts London, home of the Stanley Kubrick Archive, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and the Stanley Kubrick Film Archives.”

 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and all related characters and elements © & ™ Turner Entertainment Co. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BARRY LYNDON, EYES WIDE SHUT, THE SHINING and all related characters and elements © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s22)

 “Replicas of the original costume designs curated by Milena Canonero and Charlotte Walter”.

 

CAMPAIGN VIDEO MUSIC CREDITS

 "Title Music from A Clockwork Orange"

(from Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary", arr. by Wendy Carlos)

Written and performed by Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind

Published by Tempi Music

Performing Rights:  BMI

Courtesy of Serendip LLC

 

"Clockworks (Bloody Elevators)"

Written and performed by Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind

Published by Tempi Music

Performing Rights:  BMI

Courtesy of Serendip LLC