What if fashion were a bridge to our inner world?

Is it possible to think of fashion as a poem? With La Vie des formes, an essay published by Flammarion, Alessandro Michele and Emanuele Coccia reinvent our relationship with clothing – and with ourselves.

An unexpected dialogue between Alessandro Michele and a philosopher

On May 21, in the historic Hôtel de Galliffet in Paris, Valentino’s artistic director and the Italian philosopher presented their book, the result of an epistolary exchange that took place during their confinement. It’s an exchange that, far from being a mundane exercise, probes the depths of the link between fashion, language and the imaginary.

Since his first Gucci show in February 2015, Alessandro Michele has imposed a radical vision of design: fashion as discourse, not mere ornament. He summons up figures like Roland Barthes or Giorgio Agamben, refusing the separation between art and reflection.

Clothing as a character

For Emanuele Coccia, Michele’s collections invent “possibilities of life”. Each silhouette becomes a role to play, a fragment of history to co-write. We’re no longer just consumers of fashion, we become co-writers of our own existence.

Michele confirms: “What interests me in fashion isn’t the length of the suit. It’s what the garment reveals about us, what it brings into play in our lives.” For him, wearing a suit is almost like inhabiting a poem.

Fashion as a bridge to the imaginary

The image of a bridge often comes up in her words. A link between the self and the imaginary, between everyday life and inner exploration. Fashion is no longer about appearances, but about living life differently. An intellectual luxury as much as an aesthetic one.

Why read Alessandro Michele’s La Vie des formes?

Because this is not a book about fashion, but a book about living. A must-read for anyone who knows that dressing is never a trivial matter.

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