ModaVers

IN CONVERSATION:

Fashion STYLIST & Editor Stefano Guerrini

private notebooks & musings

Sit down, grab an espresso, and escape for a bit as American photographer RICHARD GERST interviews his long-time Italian fashion collaborator STEFANO GUERRINI on a BACKDROP of GUERRINI’S PERSONAL “NOTEBOOKS” of REMIXED ICONIC IMAGERY and PATTERNS - all of which have formed the FABRIC of his life.

Richard Gerst (RG):

Wow- what a pleasure, Stefano! We have a history you and I, from back in the beginning -when we started working together, now a decade ago, when you had your personal fashion blog (before VISION) and were freelancing at GQ Italy, teaching at the Fashion Institute, and I was just beginning to find my voice . . a process you helped with.

This is an honor for me to have your time and answers to these questions- some of which I could probably partially answer for you because I have known you for so long and we are close- but many I cannot. And the notebooks- when I first saw them my heart stopped for a moment - the shock of remembering . . . the iconic images- the remix and freshness you have given them - they are astounding. They simultaneously remind me of where we have come from and where we are headed.

This interview is a thrill for me.

With you, I always learn something new, and when we work together, I always “find the light”.

And so we begin:

What is your first memory regarding fashion, and how did that experience shape your vision and participation in the field?

Stefano GUerrini (SG): It’s a story that I have already told, and a journey down memory lane.

I was always a lonely child: small town, older sister of ten years, parents that work hard everyday (I had the keys of my house at seven... imagine!). So I grew up in front of the television. I remember afternoons watching old Hollywood movies, 30’s musical Ziegfeld Follies-style with the choreography shot from above and the dancers moving like they were flowers!

Then Fred & Ginger with those amazing costumes. But especially one movie hit me with - for me- style & elegance: the “Thin Man” movies where Mirna Loy and William Powell are always perfect: Mirna changes her dress in every scene, they investigate crime with such class - and in the evenings they wear this superb ‘robe de chambre’, drinking a cognac. I was blown away!

Then during my teen years, I discovered musicians more related to style. It was the British Invasion of the 80s, and my style sense was shaped by Duran Duran, Wham!, Boy George. Finally I fell totally in love with the street sense of a young Madonna, dressed by Maripol in a new cool way. Imagine that now I teach all in my classes, at that Time I was wearing bracelets, neon Colors, bandanas in every color possible and lots of pins everywhere!

On a more personal & intimate level, an image of my sister Laura coming home from school dressed in a typical seventies shirtdress with daisies - elegant, but cool - after her final exam, is a memory that has stuck with me throughout my life. 

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 RG: Name a few designers, photographers or fashion editors that most influenced you in the beginning, and why?

SG: I fell in love with fashion due to my love of pop music

I began following supermodels when Simon of Duran Duran married Yasmin, who was one of them, and then Christy was On the cover of the 'Notorious' album, and so on. i discovered the phenomenon and I was attracted the most by Linda Evangelista for her chameleonic approach. Then, the video for "Freedom 90" of George Michael came out, inspired by the famous Vogue British cover of january 90, shot by Peter Lindbergh. The five models of that cover (Linda, Naomi, Christy, Cindy and Tatjana) ended in the video and the first time I saw it I was crying on the phone with my best friend! Then I saw the girls on the catwalk of Versace singing the same song, hand in hand and i was hooked! So Gianni was my first designer crush, followed by Dolce and Gabbana, with their advertising shot by Steven Meisel, which I adored, even more when he shot the book "Sex" by Madonna, art directed by Fabien Baron, which with my students I call “GOD”!!! I adored Steven Meisel, and i adored those editorials he did for Vogue Italia of the late, gone - but not forgotten at all- Franca Sozzani. The style was by Mr Karl Templer which i adored also as creative director of Interview magazine. I also loved everything Grace Coddington was doing at Vogue Us - and also on a more avant-garde level what Katie Grand was doing first at Pop and Then at Love magazine! 

Talking about designers another huge crush was on Tom Ford at Gucci, so sexy + exciting & I adore Marc Jacobs, and Marc, if you read this, I wanna work with You!!!

 
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RG: These collages and notebooks you have made- I find them fascinating, gorgeous, and revealing about you personally. They are symbolic of what has influenced both of us and a perfect combination of academic teaching + style. An exercise for instruction, reflection, and direction for the future all at once. These remixes / notebooks you made for ModaVers are particularly stunning. Can you speak about these - why you chose the particular images? Also- comment about how you, personally, use these notebooks, when you first started making them, and how others may use them? 

SG: I used to do this kind of collages, or graphics works, ages ago, way before the arrival of the web and other things, and I used to send them to Dolce & Gabbana because I wanted to meet them, and also to interview magazine, and Richard Pandiscio, then creative director of the magazine published my letter! Also Dolce called me one day to say they were happy to receive them - But I was so young and I didn't use this to my advantage - this thing life led me somewhere else.

Recently, after a very tough period, that you as a friend know well, I found some of the old works and i began decorating some notebooks again. I am a huge collector of things you can buy in a stationery shop. I collect pens and notebooks, i had so many of them in my house i called IT ‘Archivio Guerrini’, but they were empty. my dream was to come back to use them one day, and that day finally happened.

I felt the urgency to return to researching, reading, writing and taking notes, and writing down quotes from books, and learning again. during the lock down this was even more. I felt that i didn't know a lot of things about art or movies and i began doing these moodboards while i went back to studying. I showed them to friends and all went mad for them, even my students, because i was showing them images that they didn't know and that they found fascinating. The new generation isn’t used to going out on their own to collect or find things - to go research - they are the generation that is most exposed to information, but that are less interested, or simply don't know how to discover it on their own!

I think in general that what I do, and i say this in a very modest way, is a form of culture . . . with a very strong emotional component.

I think that everyone can approach it, and this is best approached using the heart (and that’s why i call it: "My (he)art during #thelockdown") + curiosity. One must be willing to go back and learn something new, something different, and most of all- something beautiful, something that can make your soul smile, and stay safe, and make you feel loved!

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 RG: You “wear many hats” as we say- something that was common in the distant past, but only currently becoming more common with the internet. I do the same. If you wish to speak about it, can you comment about how your involvement in multiple work environments, healthcare, teaching and styling, all work in concert?

SG: When I grew up, I didn’t know that you could have a career in fashion. I liveD in a small town in Italy and in the early 90s when I approached university i decided to choose something I had already said I wanted to do: being a doctor.

While I was studying, fashion became my lover, while medicine was my wife.

I had my anaTOMY book on the right and Italian Vogue of Franca Sozzani on the left! Fashion became my passion, my place to go when i needed to dream, to escape. I began doing some things in thE field, first as a fashion writer and then as one of the first male bloggers in Italy. (my blog became the official fashion blog on Gq Italy site for a period, when we met, as you remember well!)

then I did the fashion direction for two independent italian magazines, beginning also to style editorials, and at the same time somebody asked me to teach in a school. And I discovered that being on a set was exciting and teaching was amazing. Teaching is a sort of performance art for me, no kidding. I entertAIn the students, and give them so many names and things to learn that they are usually terrorized to do my exam, but i adopt all OF them . . . becoming the uncle to all. some are still friends after years, AND STILL TELL ME THAT what i tAUGHT them became A part of their day-jobS. I’m always very proud of them.

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RG: This is a tumultuous, difficult time in the world: a global pandemic, political and social unrest, economic and financial inequities. As a photographer who dabbles in fashion, but focuses more on people, the body, and isolation vs. communication, I know how this has influenced my work. As an editor and stylist, can you comment on how it has influenced yours?

SG: It is not easy to answer this. I think that a lot of us are very frightEned by the future. Things change, and i used to be a person that didn’t like changE. But ultimately, i think i need change! For me, on many different levels, for the people I love, for our planet. There are a lot of issues here, things aren’t easy outside, and personally, I needed a moment to understand who i wanted to be as a human being, whAT was my credo . . . the values i believed in. I went through A lot of bad experiences: i lost my parents, my bambini, which I loved so much, I lost my cat, I decided to be single again. I needed time to think about all tHIS and decide “who is Stefano at this point?” the lockdown was useful for some of these thoughts. My work has changed because I teach from home, understanding that i can also not travel through half of italy to go to these schools. I have come back on sets, but I pay a lot of attention to minimize exposure: using masks, gloves and everything. There are new rules, And we are experimenting in new ways. We also shoot remotely, using applications and iphones.

. . .

I am not AlWAYS IN a positive mood, and that goes on, but in the end of the day I try to be. Guess what? I want to be an example, I want to experiment, I want to do new things and I want to work in that direction! 

 

“what is important is tHIS: approach a time of crises as a time of opportunities.”

 
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RG: We met years ago, via the internet, and have worked together ever since-  with the benefit of forming a friendship as well, finally meeting in person in Milano when I had the opportunity to travel there. Although I know the reasons why I wished to work with you, what elements draw you to certain photographers, designers, magazines, etc? How do you choose to form relationships that extend beyond a single editorial or project? Any advice to people just beginning down this road?

SG: Clearly when you approach someone and you want to work with him or them it is because you admire their work, you have seen something you like, and something that makes your heart or mind going in the same direction. There are people that contact others to elevate themselves thinking everything in terms of a strategy. yes- i want to elevate myself but from a personal point of view, like i am growing, i am becoming better, i am learning. Like when i saw your work the first time, remember I told you i adored it and that it reminded me of Herb Ritts - a photographer I admired and adored. So I want to create something beautiful with somebody i can build something with, i had done my mistakes, and i was sometimes disappointed, but often i met people i had amazing dialogues with from a personal point of view and from a working point of view. You are attracted to what you think is in sync with your definition of beautiful, or with the kind of road you want to travel. What’s important is that you are always honest with others and with yourself, it is a good way of living. You know, somebody told me in the past that i was born with saturn retroverse, con Saturno Contro, that means that everything you do must be done honestly, otherwise you will pay for it. And it went that way, it was true. So i learned - sometimes suffering- that i want to be honest, and clean, and a good person, and at the end of the day i feel so much better. Maybe i haven’t reached the role of editor-in-chief of Vogue, but I have had fun, i have had my moments, and i could always look at- and honestly see - myself in the mirror!

And that is something i say to my students. Fashion was my lover and still is, It is my passion, it gives me emotions everyday. If your work is your passion, it is not work, right?

Be humble, work hard, accept the opinion of others, but being always true to yourself.

There are people that think fashion is dressing well: it is not. They think fashion means to be condescending to others, or as we say in Italy - ‘tirarsela’ (pretend to be…): It is not. There is only one Anna Wintour, Baby, and it is not you. So do the work and show me who you really are!

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“Be passionate and have a culture. The new can only come from the past, only if you know and understand what has already been done, only if you know the rules, you can break them!”

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Interview questions by Richard Gerst

find more about Stefano Guerrini at VISION online

 

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