Armani/Silos to Inaugurate Guy Bourdin Exhibition at Milan Fashion Week – WWD

Milan – The late maverick French photographer Guy Bourdin will feature prominently in his new exhibition at Armani/Silos during Milan Fashion Week.

Opening Friday and running through Aug. 31, the show features a selection of nearly 100 images by Giorgio Armani with the Guy Bourdin Estate, featuring memorable shots and lesser-known images realized by Man Re Protégé.

With the exhibition entitled “Guy Bourdin: Storyteller”, he intends to highlight the literary and narrative power of his photography, beyond the provocation always associated with his work. Liked by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and artist Edward Hopper, who died in 1991, Bourdin weaves rich narratives – typically crime or noir – into his striking photographs.

Although Bourdin’s style and signature use of saturated colors differ from Armani’s image, the designer cites freedom of expression and a passion for cinema as shared values.

“This exhibition is further confirmation of my desire to place Armani/Silos at the center of contemporary photographic culture by embracing everything related to the world of Armani, as well as those that cannot be separated from it,” said Armani.

“At first glance, Guy Bourdin is not an artist I have much in common with: his language is vivid, graphic and impactful. A sense of frustration is immediately apparent in his work, but what I find most fascinating – and what I want to focus on – is instead his creative freedom, his narrative skills and his great passion for cinema. Bordin didn’t follow the crowd and he didn’t compromise and I recognized that. I don’t think there’s any other way to make a mark on the collective imagination,” added the designer.

Along with the color images – red, green and pink to explore the entire room – 21 black and white photographs will be included in the exhibition. Featuring a selection of advertising campaigns, Hall further emphasizes the timeless quality and modernity of Bourdain’s work, as well as his ability to portray a mystery drama that breaks moral conventions and pays little attention to aesthetic standards.

Born in Paris in 1928, Bourdin began his career as a painter and became a self-taught photographer in the early 50s. Due to his long friendship with Man Ray, whom he met in 1951, he immediately developed a unique style steeped in surrealist references and atmosphere.

Discovered by Vogue Paris, he began a collaboration with the magazine, which produced photo shoots and advertising campaigns. He later worked for clients such as Charles Jordan, Calvin Klein, Bloomingdale’s and Pentax, but always remained steadfast in his belief that the product was secondary to the image, focusing on composition, color, light and shadow in his work.

In particular, his 15-year advertising collaboration with Charles Jordan produced some of his most famous photographs, including the “Walking Legs” series, created long before Photoshop, featuring beautiful legs on streets, train platforms, hotel rooms and gardens. Britain.

Armani has long expressed its interest and passion for photography and is not new to organizing exhibitions dedicated to the media during fashion week. Last year, in conjunction with Milan Men’s Fashion Week, the designer presented a show featuring 10 international names with photos by Magnum.

Previous photography exhibitions at Armani/Silos include collaborations with Charles Frager, Peter Lindbergh, Larry Fink and Sarah Moon, as well as artist Paolo Ventura and the likes of Aldo Falay, Kurt and Weston Marcus, Tom Monroe. David Sims and Richard Pibbs.

In the year In 2019, the venue hosted its first architectural exhibition with the “Challenge – Tadao Ando” exhibition. This was later a display of projects by architecture students at the Politecnico di Milano University. In 2007, he awarded Armand an honorary degree in industrial design.

In the year Inaugurated in 2015, Armani/Silos served as a presentation space for the presentation of the designer’s home line, Armani Casa, at last year’s Salone del Mobile, Milan’s international furniture and design trade fair. In the year In February 2019, it was the site of Giorgio Armani’s Code Fall 2019 fashion show, a first for the designer, who has shown for years across the street at the Teatro.