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If anyone in fashion has the power to transport us to another magical world, its Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele. For the brand’s Fall/Winter 2022 campaign (dubbed “Exquisite”), he did just that by recreating scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s post memorable movies.
Michele used the campaign to honor moments from Kubrick’s classic films, including 1968’s 2001: Space Odyssey, 1971’s A Clockwork Orange, 1975’s Barry Lyndon, 1980’s The Shining, and 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut.
Pieces from the brand’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection and items from Gucci’s collaboration with adidas were all infused into Kubrick’s cinematic universe and given new meaning by Michele.
“If you ask me, a garment is not, and never will be, just a piece of fabric,” Michele said in a statement. “It’s rather the means through which we are able to unfold who we really decide to be, it’s how we shape our desires and the ultimate sense of our staying. That’s why I’ve always imagined my collections as films able to convey a cinematography of the present: a score of stories, eclectic and dissonant, that can sacralize the human and its metamorphic ability.”
The campaign featured references to the slinky black dress Nicole Kidman’s character wore in Eyes Wide Shut and also mimicked outfits Shelley Duvall’s character wore in The Shining to name a few of the recreated scenes. The photos tapped into the films’ aesthetic thanks to legendary photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, art director Christopher Simmonds and hair and makeup team (respectively) Paul Hanlon and Thomas De Kluyver.
Michele even called upon Kubrick’s costume designer Milena Canonero to create replicas of the original looks alongside fellow costume designer Charlotte Walter.
“Milena Canonero, a very dear friend of mine, who accepted my invitation to go back over some of the scenes that hailed her as undisputed star in the history of costume design,” Michele said. “Her presence in this project is moving for me, a very precious gift.”
Dubbing Exquisite his “tribute to cinema and one of its brightest maestros,” and an “act of love,” Michele’s approach to Kubrick’s world has certainly done the artistic auteur justice.
The American film director was also a producer, screenwriter, and photographer, known for his dramatic visuals and impeccable attention to detail. Michele has helmed Gucci since 2015 and has brought his own maximalist, quirky, and subversively glamorous themes into the collections.
“I’ve always been charmed by cinema. For its power to tell stories that can probe human adventure and its drift,” Michele said. “For its visionary power to dig up in the real, making it vertiginously imaginative and questionable.”
Turning his fascination into a fashion fantasy has certainly charmed his fans.
