Released today, The Ritual sees models photograph themselves from the comfort of their own homes – knitting, sunbathing or simply hanging out with a pet
“I decided to let the clothes travel towards the houses of the cast of models – the characters that have embodied my stories for years; individuals I chose precisely, over time, for their uniqueness that usually brings my campaigns to life,” said Alessandro Michele this morning of Gucci’s new campaign, which sees a typically eclectic cast of models photograph themselves in the house’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection from the comfort of their own homes.
It makes for an apt reflection of our current moment – after all, we have all spent more time at home this year than ever before. But it also reflects the idea of the collection itself, which was to turn the fashion show ritual inside out – backstage became the main performance, the hair stylists and make-up artists, dressers and seamstresses, the mise en scène. “We all come for this ritual that is almost religious. We say ‘one day I want to stop and do something else,’ but that day never comes. I’m 48 years old and have not found something else,” Michele said at the time, somewhat prophetically.
The campaign also encourages the models to encompass the individualism that Michele’s vision of the house has long entailed. “I asked them to represent the idea they have of themselves, to go public with it, shaping the poetry that accompanies them,” he said. “I encouraged them to play, improvising with their life.” This energy translates into the images: models might photograph themselves in their bedrooms or gardens, running on the treadmill, knitting, sunbathing, or appearing alongside a pet.
“This time was the time to reveal how powerful human beings are. That idea of humanity. Fashion is humanity,” Michele told AnOther’s Alexander Fury some teaser images from the campaign – which is titled The Ritual – were released earlier this year. “We are human, me, you, we are all human. They are human. There is something powerful about fashion that we discover, and we didn’t know. Maybe we felt it, but we didn’t have the chance to say it as clearly as we are saying now.”
Watch the campaign film below.
Creative Director: Alessandro Michele
Art Director: Christopher Simmonds
Photographer/Director: models
Hair stylist: models
Make up: models
Music credits:
“Alright” Supergrass
(Gareth Coombes, Daniel Goffey, Michael Quinn)
© 1995 EMI Music Publishing Italia Srl on behalf of EMI Music Publishing LTD
(P) 1995 The Echo Label Limited, a BMG Company, courtesy of BMG Rights Management (Italy) srl
