Photo Karlie Kloss, left; and Gigi Hadid, right, with Marcus Watts. Credit Bruce Weber
Versace is not just getting a new chief executive, it is getting a reality check.
Donatella Versace and Bruce Weber are together again — almost 20 years after their last project — and the combination has produced some unexpected results in the form of a fall ad campaign for Versace's women's styles.
There are supermodels, sure (Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid), the money shot of handbags, and the whole campaign reflects the current marketing trend toward communit y creation (see the eight models in Givenchy's fall grouping, and the 11 in Gucci's spring effort). But the photographs, which will be in magazines this summer, were shot in Chicago, and include nonmodels from the city in an effort to move from fashion fantasy to actuality, or at least the Versace version. It might be a bit hard to tell — people may legitimately cringe at the idea of a glossy European fashion brand's manicured idea of "grit" and "art" being used to sell clothes, and may question the depth of its engagement — but it is also a moment, perhaps, of recognition.
We called Ms. Versace and Mr. Weber to find out the back story: How the campaign happened, and why.
BW: "We are like Richard B urton and Elizabeth Taylor: get together, split up, get back together again."
DV: "For me, this was kind of a turning point. Versace's image is so much about the red carpet. But I wanted to make day clothes fierce. You know: She's a superstar, and she runs her business, and she runs her family too. Fashion is a part of life, and I thought it was important to show it could be a part of many different lives. That it could help you in your life. It's not about creating beautiful illusions anymore."
BW: "Donatella was really into the idea of taking the men and women she designs for and putting them in the world where you work, you go out with your family, you live. It's always funny to me that people think fashion photography is all about showing the clothes. It's not. It's about reporting. "
Photo Ms. Kloss with Versace's Palazzo Empire Bags. Credit Bruce Weber
DV: "Bruce decided we should shoot in Chicago. I didn't know it at all. But the city is so multilayered. Then he said we could be in the studio, but we had to go to the supermarket too, because really powerful women also go to the supermarket."
BW: "Donatella went to the supermarket. I have the picture to prove it.
"I had read a story in The New Yorker about a pastor called Father Mike, who is pretty controversial, and it caught my imagination. I went to hear him speak before we started shooting, and he was talking about politics and the need to restore old neighborhoods, and it made me think I wanted these pictures to mean something to the city. But it required a lot of trust, because I shoot on film instead of digital, so Donatella could not see what we were doing as we were doing it."
DV: "We started with three women — models — and a few male models, and then we added a lot more men we just found in the city. In the end, there were 26 men and 17 were not models. There was one opera singer, some dancers … And then Bruce put together all kinds of very diverse families in the pictures."
Photo Ms. Kloss with Sonny Oliviera, a former bodyguard. Credit Bruce Weber
BW: "I was thinking about how Pasolini made films in Italy, and he would go to these towns and the next thing you know the chef is the star of the film. We found one guy who had been a bodyguard, and he had been stationed in Afghanistan. We met a group of hip-hop dancers on the street and their manager was there, so we just said, 'Hey, you want to be in a Versace campaign?' They said, 'Are you serious?' It was so nice to see them walk out at the end with these amazing suits Donatella had given them, these great shoes."
DV: "The clothes weren't the payment, they were a present. We paid them, too. For the next men's show we are going to bring a lot of them to Milan. They were important because they speak a different language from me — literally, but also generationally, And fashio n needs that. Otherwise we will all be left behind. I think."
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