Frida Giannini talks about herself with her unmistakably hoarse voice from so many cigarettes. Ten years after her retirement from the world of fashion after a decade as creative director of Gucci, from 2006 to 2014, she is back on the scene. She does it with a collector’s book, A Journey Into the Style and Music of My Icons Since 1969 – The Year of the Big Bang (Rizzoli). An anthology of the connections between music and fashion starting from a key year, 1969, and a central figure: David Bowie.
Today it is no longer part of the fashion system. Do you miss it?
For nothing. It was a deliberate choice and also dictated by family needs. When you become creative director of a giant like Gucci at thirty years old, and you stay there for ten years, it’s not easy to get back into the industry afterwards. Also because the system has changed in the meantime, brands are money machines in which creativity tends to take a backseat to storytelling. I have achieved the maximum of my goals and now I can allow myself to choose to do only what reflects me.
Music and fashion in your life, put them in order of importance.
The music. At 5 years old I sang Life on Mars by David Bowie. But drawing came shortly after, it was my pastime as a child. Paradoxically, it was music that opened the doors of fashion to me. Even today when I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is put on music. I have about 8 thousand records, inherited from my uncle, a real nightmare for moving.
How did you arrive at the urge to write a book?
She arrived at a particular moment, after two years of caring for my mother who wasn’t very well: I was always by her side, from morning to evening. I had to stay awake and so night after night I slowly began to jot down ideas and notes. I had this book in my head for several years, it was the idea for my thesis at the Accademia Costume & Moda. I wrote it with young people in mind: what do they know about how Neil Young was a grunge icon or how some feminist movements were inspired by Carole King?
Once upon a time it was David Bowie, today the icons of music are Måneskin and Taylor Swift…
The Måneskin would not exist without Damiano. He has the right cheek, the air of a ‘cursed’ artist but without vices or abuse. Taylor Swift is a product of Made in USA marketing, built around the table. I don’t remember a song by her even if I think about it, it bores me. She doesn’t have an identity of her own: Madonna, to give you an example, she called me and made me do things 40 times but in the end I knew what she wanted.
A little stubborn…
I met her on the eve of her concert at the United Nations, for Unicef and she was insistent that she wanted pink peonies, it was June and it was impossible to have those flowers, she didn’t speak to me for more than half an hour, then she understood. Let’s say that she loves people with character and puts you to the test: if you know how to stand up to her, complicity arises. We are still in contact.
Was she ever asked to join the again fashion system?
Yes, and I have gone many times to talk and so far it has always ended with me saying “Thank you no”, “Thank you no”.
What is fashion like today?
After much ado about nothing, everyone has stopped, companies are trying to understand which direction to go. I see great boredom, there is nothing that excites me: they make turnovers with baseball caps. Let’s start again from quality, culture, good taste. However, a change of direction will come, there must necessarily be as in all fashion cycles. I just hope it doesn’t get crushed by the multinationals that are conditioning the creativity of too many.
If this moment of your life was one of your vinyls, what would it be?
Under pressure by David Bowie with Queen: under pressure.
The song that symbolizes the historical moment we are experiencing?
Woman by John Lennon, dedicating it to all the women who are still victims of violence and discrimination today.
The most valuable advice anyone ever gave her.
My first boss told me: ‘When you think of a collection, you shouldn’t design what you like but what others might like. It’s as if you prepared a dinner based on artichokes knowing that your guests don’t like them, but only because they are your favorite dish.’
2024-02-03 18:18:58
#Frida #Giannini #Gucci #peonies #Madonna #fashion #boring
