The fleeting and the frozen. The high fashion and the street style. The planned and the surprised. These are just some of the reasons why Gucci’s collaboration with Martin Parr for their timeless watches is intriguing us to the bone.
One of the most respected documentary photographers at the moment, Parr’s prolific portfolio is laden with unusual forthrightness and offbeat humour. The British artist is known to be a fan of the candid moment, his work typically extending beyond aesthetics to become a socio-political commentary of sorts. Vitriol and almost garish at times, Parr constantly seeks to elucidate the familiar in a new light. With over 100 published books under his belt, and his work collected by major museums around the globe (we’re talking Tate and Pompidou Centre), Parr’s first collaboration with Gucci is nothing short of exciting.
The Instagram-only project, affectionately titled “#TimetoParr”, is a jet-setting one. Parr travelled and shot the project at nine locations around the world, each designated by Gucci for its significance to the house. Some of these places include the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, Bibo in Hong Kong, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles. Whether home to the creation and execution of advertising campaigns, or a muse to creative director Alessandro Michele, these sites are in some way or another cherished by the House.
Parr’s style is evidently injected into the intimate and honest photographs borne from this project, which like all his other works, only features common, anonymous folks of the real world. And perhaps that is why we find ourselves so fond of this project, or should we say, journey. This visual record of a complementary partnership is built upon tender relations, and anchored by profound emotional depth, something we do not see everyday in the fashion world. The creative canvas of Instagram may seem saturated at times, but never too much so when artistic powers decide to join forces.
It’s all about the gram, fam.
Words by Valerie Wong.
RELATED ARTICLES
Rising Hemlines Have Us Hot and Unbothered
Givenchy's Hard Carry Is the Voyou
