“This is a story born from the joy of living, from passion and humanity, from people and real life, from irreverent charm, provocation, and self-confidence, from simplicity, sudden sensations, and emotions. From a precise art form made of words…” thus, last September, when Sabato De Sarno made his debut as the creative director of Gucci, clearly demonstrating his early interest in constructing a visual identity that explores artistic, aesthetic, and cultural references. On the eve of his debut in men’s fashion with the Gucci Ancora Men’s Fall Winter 2024 runway show, De Sarno reaffirms and deepens this creative statement with Gucci Perspectives 2: Still Milan, the second volume dedicated to the city and its creative expressions. The book, curated by Paola Antonelli—an architect, design curator, and Milanese—illustrates the multiple dimensions and different aspects of Milanese design, solidifying the commitment to seek a dialogue between fashion, art, and architecture. Gucci Perspectives 2 is once again a love letter to Milan, a constellation of creative references that together create a meaning-rich artistic direction, a world built through a poetic, gentle gaze attentive to sensitive forms.
“We were inspired by the idea of frictions and conflicts, alternating flashes of brutalism with visions of commercial, entrepreneurial, and industrial refinement, exploring the clichés of bourgeois elegance without neglecting the more complex and radical nuances that make it distinctly Milanese.”
Unexpected impressions and juxtapositions of buildings, spaces, objects, and the people who created them bring to life the portrait of a city devoted to design. After pictorial, photographic, and poetic references, Antonelli and De Sarno observe the city together as a cradle of design systems, from whose stratification Milanese identity emerges: physical spaces and objects enter into dialogue with those who inhabit and use them, in a continuous and layered exchange. The publications, accompanying each Gucci collection, form a creative relay where artists and visual references are invited to contribute their narrative of the city of Milan as a place of beauty, sensuality, poetry, and tradition. On the eve of his debut in men’s fashion with the Gucci Ancora Men’s Fall Winter 2024 runway show, Sabato De Sarno seems to want to immerse himself in many small operations that contribute to influencing his fashion and culture through a unique and contemporary perspective.
