Gucci tells the story of musician Kelsey Lu within the new comedian Myristica
We've seen a slew of imaginative and experimental projects that stem from the practical limitations of the blocking, from animated music videos to emoji designs with Covid motifs.
As a brand that is no stranger to experimentation in its campaigns, Gucci is well positioned to accept the new normal. The latest creative experiment by the fashion house is Myristica, a comic that was produced in collaboration with the semi-annual art magazine Kaleidosope on the occasion of its new edition.
The team behind Kaleidoscope had worked with Gucci in the past, most recently in 2019 on a book and exhibition by Harmony Korine, and had the idea of working on a comic after another Gucci collaborator, cellist, and songwriter Kelsey Lu earlier this year had hit.
"Strangely enough, this project actually started a few months before the ban," said Alessio Ascari, editor and creative director of Kaleidoscope. "The loose concept in the beginning was to create something that played with the idea of a crappy superhero tale inspired by Lu's artistic journey, her community, and her interest in cosmology."
The comic, entitled Myristica, takes up the same themes as Lu's latest album Blood, which is partly an exploration of her black, strange identity. "I've been a fan of comics since I was a kid, and graphic novels were something I got involved with as a young adult more than when I started realizing the astonishingly complex storylines that could be in them," she says.
“The freedoms and fantasies that can be captured and explored in an illustrated story can be so incredible and somehow understandable. When I meditated on the uniqueness of my own story and how I sometimes struggled to find common ground as a young, black, strange woman in the world of comics, I thought that this was an opportunity to open up this dialogue. With Gucci, this is another way to extend this dialogue to people who may not be so easily exposed. "
The distinctive aesthetic of the comic was conceived and created by Terrell Villiers and Akia Dorsainvil of Masisi Studios, who brought it to life in less than two months amid the closure and recent protests against Black Lives Matters.
In the illustrations, Lu is captured in Gucci clothing and accessories, including Jackie’s 1961 bag archive design, revived by creative director Alessandro Michele for his catwalk show AW / 20, and accompanied by a number of guest cameos, including singer Florence Welch.
"I really wanted to incorporate the element of fashion that is relatable, like the Gucci bracelet on Lu's wrist. It was introduced in the comic as something that Lu wore in her childhood," says Dorsainvil, who developed the concept, the script and the Dialog elements of the project led.
For Villiers, the main illustrator and art director, it was equally important to capture Lu's personal style. “What some may not know about Lu is that her amazing, eccentric, versatile, styled appearance is all very precise and deliberate for her artistic practice. Her outfits are the visual narrative that accompanies the narrative in her music. Learning that made styling the most entertaining part of Myristica's illustration, ”he says.
Find out more about Myristica here