Eros in fashion

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Hi babes!

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Today I want to talk about love. Clichè, right? Maybe, but let me make a twist to it!

One of my cities of love is Pietrasanta. Beside the fact that it is such a cozy, intimate little city in Versilia, one of the jewels of Tuscany, it is a city where I always find love when going: I went in September and found, in the little deconsecrated church in Piazza Duomo, a collection of art pieces called “Wonder of Love”, by Marco Cornini, displaying couples of lovers with the tenderness of sex in their eyes; when I went last weekend, it was because they were hosting a philosophy festival, which theme was eros in different forms, from politics, to relationship to even music.

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Head full of philosophical thought inspired by the seminars, I had the idea to think about love also on how it has guided and inspired fashion through the years. Where could we find love in fashion campaigns, collections, as a shaping value of brands?

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Love Therapy by Fiorucci

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Credits foto Fiorucci: https://www.lovetherapy.it/museum

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Founded by Elio Fiorucci and his sister Floria Fiorucci in 2003, the brand is what Fiorucci used to call “the natural continuum of my original brand”. We may all know about the historical Fiorucci shop opened in Milan, Galleria Passerella, in 1967: an explosion of colors, with walls painted by none the less of the visionary Keith Haring, and music and fun and most of all clothes; a dear friend of Fiorucci, the famous photographer Oliviero Toscani, says that it was like a world apart from reality, full of joy and love and positivity, where people could enjoy themselves and experiment, a place that attracted youngsters back then more than art galleries did on a Saturday evening.

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Creative and naïve, Love Therapy is a brand with strong values about the ethical making of clothes, both for the love of people and the planet: we should love each other as humanity as much as we should love nature, the creatures, animals, that inhabit it with us. As the website’s manifesto recites: We think that nothing humans do has value if it is not embedded with spiritual values. Love Therapy represents a way of being happy, imaginative and, most importantly, kind and loving. As Elio liked to say: “Love will save the world.”

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Gucci campaigns by Alessandro Michele

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If you were wondering that: YES, I AM STILL MURNING THE DEPARTURE OF ALESSANDRO MICHELE FROM HIS POSITION OF GUCCI’S CREATIVE DIRECTOR! While we wait to know about the next brand he will take over to, let’s look back to a few of the amazing campaigns he did with the eccentric, historical brand that Gucci is.

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A few weeks ago, indeed, I went to the Gucci Garden in Florence and was amazed again by some of the collections, all of them very philosophical and poetic.

First, it was the time of AW15 “Urban Romanticism”: in a metro-wagon sits a lady, looking at the landscape that passes through the window. What passes is not just space but time, between what it is, what it was, what is not yet. What is more tender than thinking about our past, the bittersweet memories, but also fantasizing about what will be, pure freedom and imagination?

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The second collection in the house that talks about love is “Rebellious romantics” SS15: in a glossy red bathroom, frenetic young lovers and dancers rush to the dancefloor, moved by music in an underground berlins club; still, in a locked stall, the shoes of two people are visible: are there lovers kissing, aways from the eyes of others, losing their selves in the beat of the sound and the one of the blood that rushes when you are with someone you love? This is an ode to young passion, longing for freedom and discovery.

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Last but not least, the “Love Parade”, down the Hollywood Boulevard in November 2021. This is the love that Aristotle would call “philia”: a close, intimate relationship between friends or family. In fact, this collection is dedicated to Michele’s mother, an assistant in a production company: since he was a child, he said he remembered being teleported in this shining, glamours fabric of dreams, the world of cinema, with his 50s’ divas his mum told him about. Inspired by these mortal gods and goddesses that lived in the Olympus of movies, Michele was able to breath in the little roman neighborhood he lived in; lace, tulle, paillettes, feathers, big sunglasses, between long gowns and tailored suits, he makes us live those dreamy years again, through the eyes of his inner child.

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Valentino’s The Narratives

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Back in SS21, Pierpaolo Piccioli gifted us with a lovely, unusual campaign for the collection: no clothes, just literary quotes that were selected among many books and poems collections. His intent was to propose, not just a new way to present fashion in terms of who wears the clothes, but also a new platform for the campaigns that convey the fashion messages. So, as a poetry lover, he thought that words could help not just him but also the maison Valentino lovers to find ways to express their emotions. Minimalistic in the design, the quotes were brought together to present the “Fashion Act” show.

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One year later, just a few months ago, more colorful but with the same idea in mind, a new campaign was launched: “Valentino The Narratives II”. But this time, Piccioli had a topic in mind when selecting the pieces: they had to be words about love, in all the variety of forms it can be felt and exist; writer from all around the world delivered us sweet, enigmatic, sad, young, old, left unsaid, lived, or just imagined, little fragments of everyday love, the fil rouge of our lives.

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Love is Love by Dolce and Gabbana

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For 2021 Valentine’s Day, D&G launched a campaign about love: no gender, no sexual orientation, no age, no nationality, nothing matters but the love people share (something that made the campaign controversial in countries where human rights are not respected).

On a bright red background, couple kiss and hug and touch each other, along the notes of “Per un’ora d’amore non so cosa darei, ah ah ah” by Mattia Bazar.

The campaign wa salso made to support #TheTrevorproject, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ+) young people.

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