VERSACE JEANS COUTURE – EN - Muse

Versace Jeans Couture starts out from its deep-rooted history as a supporter of youth culture and burgeoning talents; the line was created with the aim of approaching a young audience while continuing to tell the story of the brand’s creative DNA and the global strategy that derives from it. Dynamic work and continuous research allow the project to grow with each collection, expanding the vast network of collaborations and unearthing young and cool talents from the art and music scene, who decide to become spokespeople for the values, philosophy and history of VJC. For the SS23 campaign, the faces chosen are Talia Goddess and Aaron Maine. The first creative, multifaceted and eclectic, was born in Brooklyn, where from an early age she approaches the world of music, becoming part of it and managing to perfectly channel the creative energy of the city in which she lives into her work as a singer-songwriter, rapper, DJ, producer and model. Maine, on the other hand, is the musician of Porches, a dynamic and innovative synth-pop band and project created in the suburbs of the city in 2010, which also experiments with indie rock, electronic and dream pop genres. In the work of the two, one can perceive the desire to unleash creativity, while at the same time respecting their own distinctive characters and traits, just like VJC. What music narrates through sounds and voices is also translated into the stylistic choices of a brand, which carries on, from collection to collection, the evolution of a story and a specific world.

The elements that tell the story of Talia’s work are the sense of family and community in which she grew up and the Caribbean roots that are inherent in her persona, homely and open-minded. Her idea of success is to live a life in which she can feel a sense of community and freedom, and to inspire others by becoming an example to follow. These influences are translated in a very personal way into a captivating artistic presence that talentful takes the city’s cultural heritage and channels it through a unique voice and interpretation. Her music conveys positive and relaxing energies and is accompanied by sounds that have great drive, always aiming to showcase innovative and unprecedented aspects of her work, aimed at refreshing the public’s image of her. Her songs are direct, written on the spur of the moment, dictated by an impulse and a warmth of the creative moment from which she allows herself to be completely overwhelmed: this is also the message she wants to get across to the listener. This art is for her the rawest and most honest, the most authentic, and she feels it is the perfect tool for her to succeed in becoming the best version of herself.

TALIA GODDESS, DENIM VJC SS23 CAMPAIGN, PHOTO BY GRACE AHLBOM.

“My idea of success is to live a life where I have community and can give back and inspire others through education or simply living as an example.”

– Talia Goddess

TALIA GODDES, DENIM VJC SS23 CAMPAIGN, PHOTO BY GRACE AHLBOM.

Aaron embodies the characters of a suburban upbringing and sensuality, linked to an overwhelming environment, composed of a real and sensory overload that only a big metropolis like New York can give an artist. The Porches’ musician experiments a lot in his idea of making music, both with sounds and words, he writes a lot and everything he imprints on paper is then transformed into song, poetry or, more generally, into a beautiful story. He describes himself as a very expansive and sociable person, full of energy and sometimes unconscious, but always dreaming. To stimulate his creativity he plays the piano, and this allows him to realize how physical and real music is. He represents himself as an alter ego in each of the characters he decides to tell in his songs, always described with a strong intentionality. Hence the artist’s tendency to favor very direct writing, with references to objects and subjects that are apparently banal but have a profound meaning. All these characters are also reflected in the music, made up of synthesizers and sound percussion that propel movement, accompanied by a voice that rings out freely above everything, describing emotions and desires.

AARON MAINE, DENIM VJC SS23 CAMPAIGN, PHOTO BY GRACE AHLBOM.

“To trigger my creativity, sometimes I’ll just play piano for hours, helps me remember music is physical.”

– Aaron Maine

Through the exploration of talent’s hometown from their point of view, the campaign gives an insight into personal moments of reflection in the city.

The campaign images are shot in a real and documentary style by the American photographer Grace Ahlbom and represent a “photographic tale that meets diary style”. The shots convey the idea of a story of individual reflection, embracing the creative realm alongside the thoughtful one, and investigating the artist’s raw intimacy and personality. The two protagonists are portrayed against the backdrop of the iconic streets of NYC’s Lower East Side, becoming bearers of the beauty of hidden experiences and the banality of everyday life overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city. Each shot seems to have a unique character, narrating the two talents’ exploration of their birthplace from their own point of view and offering a vision of personal expression and reflection on the spaces around them.

The backdrop of the city illuminates the garments of the SS23 collection, and lends a characteristic timeless magic to the stylistic creativity that it represents. The Y2K aesthetic and codes of the early 2000s are revisited through the brand’s heritage. The colors and prints are inspired by Versus Versace’s SS97 collection, Twigs and Roses. Denim is the eternal protagonist of the proposals, enriched by strappy details with buckles and patchwork, raw and frayed finishes, bleached washes and bright dyes. The womenswear world features asymmetrical cuts and necklines, denim skirts and matching bralettes, oversized jackets, long hems, zip and contrast stitching details, mini-dresses and bold prints. Menswear is inspired by the world of workwear, with parker jackets and cargo pants, oversized shirts and denim with neon allover prints.

TALIA GODDESS, DENIM VJC SS23 CAMPAIGN, PHOTO BY GRACE AHLBOM.

AARON MAINE, DENIM VJC SS23 CAMPAIGN, PHOTO BY GRACE AHLBOM.

Freedom of expression is the key to the new SS23 Denim collection by Versace Jeans Couture. The brand triggers a strong and distinctive link between past, present and future, elements from the archive of past collections are revisited in a current and modern vision, and worn by two young personalities who open the door to future music history. The character of the two artists from the New York music scene, Talia Goddess and Aaron Maine, is representative of the innovative scope of the new cultural movements that are skillfully translated by VJC’s careful research into the contemporary fashion scene.

Discover the full collection at Versace.com.

THE EPICENTRE OF CREATIVITY