November is usually a quiet month for fashion shows, but not this year. In place of the brand’s typical runway show, Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele and the American filmmaker Gus Van Sant joined forces to create the seven-part miniseries Ouverture Of Something That Never Ended. Last week at Vogue’s Forces of Fashion summit, Michele and Van Sant sat down with Global Vogue Runway’s Nicole Phelps to discuss how they brought Gucci’s latest collection to life.
“I wanted to make fashion more than just clothes,” Michele said when prompted to explain what sparked his cinematic vision this season. He also enlisted 15 independent designers from around the world to join the multi-day digital festival with their own films. From Collina Strada’s climate change-themed video game to Bianca Saunders’s meditation on the female gaze, every film by the guest designers on the GucciFest lineup is viewable here.
Translating Michele’s famously emotional runway show experience for the small screen was a month-long process, and casting talented friends of the brand like Billie Ellish, Florence Welch, Jeremy O. Harris, and Vogue’s December cover star Harry Styles alongside the series star Silvia Calderoni, helped make each episode a must-watch. So far Ouverture has reached over 4.8 million combined views.
Gus Van Sant and Alessandro Michele on set in Rome. Photographed by Paige Powell.
The dynamic duo looking over the run of show. Photographed by Paige Powell.
Calderoni and Van Sant clicked on set. “The power of the piece is held together by Silvia walking through the other collection of Alessandro’s friends, acquaintances, obsessions, and people that he admires, as thinkers as well and other friends who are models,” Van Sant said. While the short films lack the unique IRL energy of an Alessandro Michele runway show, the series allowed people inside and outside the fashion industry the opportunity to experience a Gucci event from a virtual front row seat.
Gus Van Sant shooting a scene from episode one with Silvia Calderoni. Photographed by Paige Powell.
Silvia Calderoni and Jeremy O. Harris pause mid-scene with Gus Van Sant. Photographed by Paige Powell.
Michele described the project as the “soul of humanity” pegging each short film to a routine of daily life. As the conversation drew to a close, Phelps asked Michele what he hoped his fans would take away from this miniseries, he poetically replied, ”I think people will get the beauty and the power of this crazy time.”
Watch the full conversation below, catch the complete miniseries here, and make sure to check out Gucci’s latest collection on Vogue Runway.