In Florence, fashion narrates the disappearing man

Two exhibitions set up for the event remain in Florence as a sign of this continuing narrative. At the Museum of Costume and Fashion at the Pitti Palace, the exhibition A short novel on men’s fashion curated by Olivier Saillard is conceived as a single book that opens, revealing clothes that are not worn, but rather are laid out on huge cardboard pages. The body of the clothing as an object in itself that does not require a figure to wear it is a distinctive trait of Saillard and the male portraits in the Gallery of Modern Art in the Pitti Palace play on these fabric spectres. The new set up in the Gucci Garden by Maria Luisa Frisa instead presents an interweaving of various narratives in a multitude of languages. Détournement, Bagology, Ouroboros, Cosmorama are the titles of the halls that house the exhibition. Through a circular narrative that decontextualises the linear nature of time, the letters of the Gucci alphabet create new words. Maria Luisa Frisa states that it is a “venue that is both pop and scientific”, in which the bodies of the past, from the archives of the brand, encounter new stories and become new characters. The obsession with text and words is also present in the small Cinema da Camera, a small auditorium in the Gucci Garden. Here, in the darkness of the venue, image and body disappear, leaving space to the voice of John Giorno presenting a complete performance.

The fashion show-events brought forth other stories, and the models appeared as materialisations of a story, an account, a picture or a sculpture. MSGM by Massimo Giorgetti presented coloured bandanas and floral shirts illuminated by the light reflected off a video-swimming pool, immediately conjuring up images of A Bigger Splash in which the imagination of David Hockney was blended with scenes from the film of the same name by Luca Guadagnino. The duo Pronounce, guests of the special event Guest Nation China, filled the spaces of the Dogana with a parade of models, some of which wore dresses with prints depicting sculptures from the Xi’an terracotta army. Lastly, Sterling Ruby debuted with his first collection (S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA), presenting an autobiographical account of what would happen if the author of the narrative became a clothes designer. Cowboys, Amish people, modern Shamans and post-punk figures emerged from a dusty yellow cloud. Some of them carry shining work tools (baskets, hoes, long nails) and wearing bleach-stained fabrics. Others were wrapped in patchwork cloaks in which the stitching seemed to weave together the metaphors and idiosyncrasies of the American artist’s paintings and sculptures. Now that all of this has passed, and the characters have left the stage, what remains is their stories; the fabrics that they inhabited have become the text for a never-ending narration.

Opening picture: Pronounce, China Guest Nation event