A Magazine curated by Alessandro Michele

Cover: ‘Civita di Bagnoregio’ photographed by Giovanni Attili

Launched late last year, the new edition of A Magazine Curated By features 280 pages of interviews, imagery and musings brought together by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele. It is the 16th issue since the concept was devised by Walter Van Beirendonck in 2001. Prior ‘curators’ have included Proenza Schouler, Stephen Jones, Maison Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto and Riccardo Tisci.

Advertisement for Gucci photographed at Chatsworth
Curator’s Letter

Credited with reviving the Italian house’s fortunes following his appointment almost exactly 2 years ago, this was an opportunity for Michele to express his creative perspective through exclusive content, free from advertising nods or commercial requirements. His vision for Gucci was made clear from the start with his first men’s show in January 2015. After 14 years in the company, latterly looking after accessories under his predecessor Frida Giannini, Michele was promoted with a week to go before the show. Jettisoning the entire pre-prepared men’s collection, he pulled together an aesthetically far-removed offering in a matter of days, showing sheer pussy bow blouses on both men and women, printed suits, and fur lined slip-on loafers, destined for stardom. The New Yorker have since labelled him ‘Gucci’s Renaissance Man.’

His clothes reflect a broad interest in adornment and embellishment over honing a silhouette; a devoted flea-market and museum goer, an antique-cluttered, retro sensibility suffuses his plucked-from-history’s-dressing-up-box offering. A Magazine provides an insight into Michele’s interests and inspirations, from curiosities and keepsakes to the work of artist Cindy Sherman and singer-songwriter Florence Welch, layered over prints which mirror the textiles used in Gucci’s printed suits and boutique interiors. Printed on matte paper of satisfying, substantial thickness, this is a magazine devoid of advice or instructions; it is closer to a personal scrapbook, easy for a reader to delight in its colour and detail-filled pages.

De Vera ‘A Pound of Flesh’ by Federico de Vera photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo
A Man and His Symbols by Tavi Gevinson
Song by Florence Welch
Cindy Sherman Untitled #90. Untitled film still #27, 1981. Chromogenic colour print, 24 x 48 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Metro Pictures

The list of contributors is impressive: Chloë Sevigny, Bruce Weber, Joe McKenna, Glen Luchford, Unskilled Worker, Madonna, Grace Coddington and Jared Leto to name just a few. Each were offered the words ‘blind for love’ – Michele’s theme for the issue, lifted from an 18th century manuscript – as a starting point. Their myriad narratives number around 40 in total.

I’ll Be Your Mirror photographed by Glen Luchford, styling by Jerry Stafford
Unpublished Photograph for Gucci, 2015, by Glen Luchford
Curator A.M.’s personal relic artwork / Hollywood Forever Superstar J.L.’s [Jared Leto] wisdom tooth artwork
‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ photographed by Bruce Weber, styling by Joe McKenna
Az Én Családom photographed by Petra Collins, styling by Zara Mirkin
Madonna photographed by Steven Klein

One of the most engaging spreads features the actor and model Hari Nef; openly transgender, she has been a force for increasing diversity in the fashion industry of late. She first walked Gucci’s catwalk a year ago in the Autumn/Winter 2016 men’s show. In Michele’s A Magazine she appears as an angel lensed by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, complete with feathered wings, glowing features and a wide-eyed, heavenward stare. Another Gucci model, the photographer Petra Collins, contributes a nostalgia-tinted fashion story. A further fashion story, photographed by Gia Coppola, nods to the film Picnic at Hanging Rock – a perennial favourite of many fashion creatives – with blurred figures clad in ethereal Gucci gowns in sherbet tones draped across a rocky landscape.

‘Angels in Love’, Hari Nef photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Dream Within A Dream photographed by Gia Coppola, styling by Jacqui Getty (1)
Dream Within A Dream photographed by Gia Coppola, styling by Jacqui Getty (2)
Richard Ginori Factory est. 1735 photographed by Matthieu Salvaing

The resultant magazine is full of the same sense of purpose which defined Michele’s very first show; behind the scenes snaps of which, taken by Michele, conclude the magazine. It is a treasure: a rich narrative, complete with a youthful cast striving to redefine ideals of beauty.

Gucci Autumn Winter 2015 Behind the Scenes photographed by Alessandro Michele
Thank you… / Ilustration by Grace Coddington
Advertisement for Gucci photographed at Chatsworth

 

References:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/guccis-renaissance-man

http://www.amagazinecuratedby.com/issues/alessandro-michele/