A Magazine, Issue 20: Curated By Pierpaolo Piccioli

A MAGAZINE is a biannual publication, exploring the creative sphere of a selected designer in each issue. We invite a guest curator- an international fashion designer, group or house- to develop innovative, personalised content that expresses their aesthetic and cultural values.

Each issue celebrates this designer´s ethos: their people, their passion, their stories, emotions, fascinations, spontaneity and authenticity. As such A MAGAZINE exists as an entirely dynamic title- a cultural statement for individuality in an increasingly homogenous industry.

Centred around A MAGAZINE´s guest curator is a team of editors, with content provided by an international network of contributors and collaborators. Each of these creative relationships with an artist, photographer, musician, graphic designer etc. starts with a conversation. This artistic dialogue leads to beautiful projects, special friendships and a fusion of explosive talent to create work that transcends the ordinary.

A MAGAZINE is a unique niche product both on the conceptual and advertorial level. Alongside purely artistic content, we create hybrid promotional opportunities for collaborators, enabling the production of site-specific content that goes beyond common commercial restrictions.

In this issue:

Pierpaolo Piccioli’s issue of A Magazine Curated By contains a multitude of messages centered around the exploration of the city of Rome and its dualities. Approached as a longform visual essay, the magazine unfolds from a still-life shoot by Joel Meyerowitz of Pierpaolo’s secret cahiers des défilés, his ‘mood books’ that underline each fashion show and contain everything from their initial inspirations to the end result of the fashion show’s imagery and ephemera. From this key starting point, a diarized visual portfolio by Charles H. Traub – known for his iconic series’ ‘Lunchtime’ on the streets of New York City and ‘Dolce Via’ across Italy in the 1980s – takes place in chapters, documenting many of Pierpaolo’s favourite places in Rome from the Spanish steps to Trastevere and the Palatine hill. The series features a host of characters from near and far, including the models Leslye Houenou, Hannelore Knuts, and Aurora Talarico, the Principessa Nicoletta Odescalchi, the actress Alba Rohrwacher, Pierpaolo’s wife Simona and daughter Benedetta, and many more. Paintings from the Italian renaissance and the work of Hieronymus Bosch are scattered throughout the magazine’s pages, countering Pierpaolo’s contemporary vision with his classical inspirations, including a rarely seen Caravaggio painting restored by Studio Merlini Storti Restauri at the Palazzo Odescalchi in Rome.

Closing the magazine, a 48-page portrait series photographed by Pierpaolo Piccioli himself is situated as a tribute to Franca Sozzani and an homage to Steven Meisel’s iconic Vogue Italia October 1992 photo shoot, in which Meisel captured a multitude of international personalities wearing his signature trapper hat and holding their handwritten name card. Swapping black and white for dazzling colour, and the black hat for Philip Treacy’s now-iconic pink hat for Valentino, Pierpaolo hand-picked a cast of family, friends, Valentino artisans and international celebrities to pose for him, including Naomi Campbell, Mariacarla Boscono, British Vogue’s Edward Enninful, Pat McGrath, Guido Palau, and the original series’ stylist Joe McKenna. His closing subject, the actress Frances McDormand, appears on the magazine’s cover in a green Haute Couture sequin cape. The cover’s black cloth effect and red stripe are a nod to Pierpaolo’s cahiers des défilés, embossed with a ‘P.P’ stamp as a subtle nod to Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Extending the A Magazine Curated By spirit of ‘carte blanche’ creative freedom, Pierpaolo’s issue contains a special DIY project, an invitation extended to the designers Craig Green, Marc Jacobs, Undercover founder Jun Takahashi, and Givenchy creative director Clare Waight Keller. Each designer was sent a roll of Valentino red haute couture silk and a packet of Valentino studs along with a note from Pierpaolo to interpret the Valentino house codes in their own way, the results being a dynamic collection of objects including a teddy bear, a corsage bow, a bustier dress and a family of stuffed sculptures. Other features include an intimate glimpse inside Pierpaolo’s Nettuno home by Lorenzo Castore, texts by Francesco Bonami and Luigi Ballerini, musical collages by Gwenaël Rattke, a tribute to costume designer Piero Tosi by Bruce Weber, stills from the short film The Staggering Girl by Luca Guadagnino, and a never-before-seen snapshot of Mr. Valentino’s 1966 Haute Couture show in Rome photographed and written by Paolo di Paolo.

Contributors in alphabetical order:

Alessio Bolzoni, Alexandre Desplat, Benedetta Piccioli, Bruce Weber, Charles H. Traub, Clare Waight Keller, Craig Green, Daniela Storti, Deborah Turbeville, Ernest Pignon Ernest, Francesco Bonami, Giancarlo Giammetti, Greta Bellamacina, Guido Palau, Gwenaël Rattke, Harumi Klossowska de Rola, Joel Meyerowitz, Julianne Moore, Jun Takahashi, Kimberly Drew, Liya Kebede, Lorenzo Castore, Luca Guadagnino, Luigi Ballerini, Marc Jacobs, Marco Gazza, Mariacarla Boscono, Michel Gaubert, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pablo Arroyo, Paolo di Paolo, Pat McGrath, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Nicoletta Odescalchi, Rocco Sergio Baldassarro, Roger Dean, Ryan Aguilar, Sidival Fila, Simona Piccioli, Stella Piccioli, Valeria Merlini, William Kentridge, Yi Tuo, Zandra Rhodes.