Gucci and the new cinéma d'auteur

For Gucci Eyewear Spring Summer 2020 Campaign, Alessandro Michele continues to explore all the decades of the modern age. This new campaign follows Chinese actress Ni Ni and South-Korean singer and dancer KAI while they shop compulsively in a vintage music store in Los Angeles. For this campaign, the brand's Creative Director decided to keep on his collaboration with director Harmony Korine. This is just the last of many collaborations that unveil Michele's passion for le cinéma d'auteur.

Alessandro Michele is the last of the Oscar Wilde-like decadents. And that is clear by scrolling the guests he invites at his shows: he loves to find art and to bet on talents (even if the last show during Milan Fashion Week was a little low-tone). Among all the arts, Michele's has always demonstrated a strong passion for the world of cinema (as it can be seen on the Singing in the Rain-inspired Spring Summer 2019 Campaign). Years and years before Harry Styles and A$ap Rocky, the first ones to completely give themselves to his creativity were Dakota Johnson and Jared Leto. It was just a matter of time before he reached the directors, too.

The director who's been the most faithful to him is Harmony Korine. Because of controversial films like Spring Breakers (a hit), Mister Lonely and The Beach Bum Hollywood still doesn't know it to love hime or to hate him. Their collaboration started with the Pre-Fall 2019 lookbook, that was shot by Korine in Ercolano and Pompei and that ultimately became a book (Gucci by Harmony Korine, by IDEA Books). From that moment on, the director has shot many other campaigns for the Italian brand, such as the one that introduced Harry Styles to the Gucci-world or the amusing Gucci Chinese Year Campaign (where the models wander around Disneyland with Mickey Mouse itself). The most iconic one, however, are the ones shot for the Cruise 2020 Campaign, set at an exaggerated party at Villa La Furibonda in Rome, where Iggy Pop, Gucci Mane and Sienna Miller drink and laugh while wearing all the clothes from the collection. It's the perfect Korine-style: messed and glam. It may be assumed that - artistically - Korine represents for cinema what Alessandro Michele represents for the fashion world: a creative explosion of art (sure, Korine has more struggle to find money to produce his art).

The esteem between the two artists was the engine that made Gucci Hub, in Milan host a special event to screen all the director's filmography (on the occasion, nss magazine interviewed Korine)

Among the new entries in the Gucci-world, back on January Yorgos Lanthimos realized the Cruise 2020 Campaign. The Greek director - whose films are real masterpieces, as The Favourite (with Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman) and The Lobster (with Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Lea Seydoux) jumped into the Gucci-verse taking advantage of his obsession for the animal world. In the end, the campaign is hallucinated: it's already a cult and it shows a horse while having a coffee with some models and runs on the beach towards the horizon.

In this case too, the campaign will become a book: Ωοτοκία (Oviparity) will be published in November, 2020 by IDEA Books (the money will be used to restore the Leda Gallery of Villa Albani Torlonia, that served as a location for the campaign).

If it's true that the strength of a leader rest in his ability to find loyal allies, in this case too Michele proves to be good at what he does. He was among the first ones to believe on the talent of two Italian emerging directors, the D’Innocenzo Brothers. Before they actually won the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival, Michele chose them for his photographic project in collaboration with Vogue (25 ways to Gucci: Famiglie contemporanee nella città eterna) and invited them at Gucci Cruise 2020 Fashion Show in Rome (one of the greatest events he's ever made).

“He is a genius", Korine said to nss magazine about Michele's explosive genius. Is not easy to keep up with his creativity: Michele is an enfant prodige. But one thing is for sure: from now on, it's good to keep an eye on his cinematographic taste.