Since it came out Gucciwe followed him mostly on social media: Alessandro Michelenew creative director of Valentine debuting on the catwalk next September, he preferred to entrust the flow of his life, his passions and emotions to images, with some exceptions such as the podcast in which he talked about himself Maria Luisa Frisa And Chiara Tagliaferri.
But last Saturday he finally showed up in the flesh at the Book Fair of Turin, interviewed by Daria Bignardi about the book The life of forms-Philosophy of reenchantmenta 224-page philosophical diary, created jointly with the philosopher Emanuele Cocciapublished by HarperCollins and in bookshops at the price of 22 euros. Michele, therefore, is a writer as well as a designer, confirming his multifaceted and unpredictable nature.
In front of an audience where many have chosen to dress Gucci “à la Alessandro Michele”, the designer – who already as creative director of the flagship brand of Kering he used to write imaginative press releases full of meaning – he explained that the basis of the book was a long dialogue with Coccia made up of meetings, messages and calls, resulting in a narrative where on the one hand Michele reveals the background of his life and its inspirations but, on the other hand, the reflection expands to the essence of fashion: a concrete but intangible value which, as such, does not even appear in the title of the volume. Title which, incidentally, refers to the work Life of forms Of Henri Focillonhistorian of twentieth-century French art.
«When I approached philosophy – said Michele – I did it to find my stylistic signature. It was an enlightening meeting, which made me understand that the language closest to fashion belonged to philosophy. Since then it has become the language of everything I have done.” Fashion, therefore, not as an exteriority, trend or form of exhibitionism (it is no coincidence that in the book the only images are tiny pictograms, no clothes or accessories), but as an expression of one’s deepest self and, in particular, as an art that does not it ends in a sculpture or a painting to be contemplated, but coincides with existence itself and its becoming.
In this regard Emanuele Coccia, in a post on Instagram, clarifies that fashion has not always existed, as dressing was initially linked to biological, practical and social issues. It became such when it reflected needs for self-expression, opposing the rules imposed from above. «The forms of fashion – she writes – are not just tools for understanding the world and ourselves. They are also amulets with which we invent and experience new freedoms. Freedom to resurrect set aside possibilities. Freedom to construct new meanings. Freedom to choose who to be.”
Michele has become a champion of this freedom and reiterated it at the Book Fair, saying that he has always supported “crooked curves” and that he himself feels like “a crooked thing”. The inevitable question is how he is preparing for his debut at Valentino: «I am simply alive, going through a phase of great concentration», replied the designer.
ab
