Fashion has often been affected by a negative label, as the corrupted side of the Creative World. Beautifully inspired by a speech given by Gilles Deleuze in 1987, Alessandro Michele changed our minds and spoked sincerely to a public avid to dig deeper in his world and mind.
“Creation as an act of resistence”: not only a mere title, but a declaration of intents and manifesto of a different approach to the fashion business.
Little we knew, that from a speech given by one of the most renowned creative talents working in the fashion industry, we would have found ourselves wandering in the realms of philosophy, art, literature and more. Such travel was possible also thanks to Giovanni Attili – professor at the University La Sapienza (Rome) – Alessandro’s friend and collaborator, whose pen is at the service of Gucci’s creative director, translating ideas into exquisitely written words. Press-release, therefore, is no longer a defence – given by the artist to a ravenous crowd of journalists – it is a poetical conclusion to a process that has been going on for a long time, a romantic attempt to explain what “creating” means.
But we must take a step back: fashion is undoubtedly bonded to the Art world, then to creativity. Why are we so prompt to forget it? What infects fashion? While the effects of the disease are evident, both the pathogen and the cure seems to be far from being discovered.
People who have analysed this world in a less light-hearted way said that fashion is not only a language, but a deeply complicated system, where – as stated by Alessandro – things as sleeves’ length, shoulders’ shape, ecc. are used as notes in music, frames in cinema, colours in paintings.
Is fashion a dying message, no longer able to be received, referring to nothing but itself? With his statement “I do not want to talk about clothes” Gucci creative director is trying to dissent. His creations – often labeled as merely ironic – are the expression of a way of creating through life-experience, personal taste and feelings, summoning and mixing other expressive worlds, creating an universe made of many other ones, also inspired by Art and History.
Fashion turns into just an object when marketing becomes the only way to approach it like buyers thing: when trend and saleability are the only elements of the equation. Clothes, for Alessandro, should go toward a place of self-validation and a different viewpoint, far from banality and closer to the acknowledgement of their value.
In this journey toward the formula of creativity, words are hard to find and there Alessandro Michele finds in Giovanni Attili a friend able to – not only metaphorically – ink the unconscious of somebody who is constantly looking for inspiration, materials, stories, experiences. While previous creative directors tried to embody Gucci’s ideals, Alessandro tried to put his loving vision into it, creating a scenario where the viewer must put his will to understand – considering that visual saturation to the eyes of the mass is the product of the lack of perception.
It seems like such thoughts are leading to a demolition of mere appearance, or at least, they are trying to enhance the importance of being into the act of showing.
