To wear a dress is to enter a vehicle that leads our identity where we would never have gone with our anatomy alone. 

-Alessandro Michele-

Reading the book “The Life of Forms – Philosophy of Re-enchantment” by Emanuele Coccia and Alessandro Michele (now only in Italian, with an English translation coming in Fall 2025) inspired me greatly and made me totally change my opinion about fashion and the object “dress.”

A philosopher like Emanuele Coccia, professor at the “École des hautes études en sciences sociales” in Paris, and a Creative Director (first at Gucci, now at Valentino) like Alessandro Michele, were able to combine their visions to create a philosophy of re-enchantment. As Coccia says in the book’s introduction, “All forms live. All lives speak, if they are visible. Fashion is the most radical expression of this intimacy between form and life.”

It is a habit for me that when I read a book, I underline the passages that for whatever reason touch my inner fibers. Once the book is finished, I reread those underlined passages and transcribe them into an electronic document. Sometimes, putting sentences that were far apart in the book close together is an act of signification because it creates hidden dialogues and inspires the imagination, creating unexpected inflorescences.

In the case of the book “The Life of Forms,” the following juxtaposition of thoughts by Alessandro Michele inspired the birth of the series of images I present in this article: “To wear a dress is to enter a vehicle that leads our identity where we would never have arrived by our anatomy alone. When we merge with what we imagine, desire is released in its purest forms; to wear a dress is to make ourselves indistinguishable from what we have imagined ourselves to be.”

This idea of broadening our psychic geography when we wear a dress made me think of Alice in Wonderland when she steps through the mirror. The urge came to me to visually represent this sensory perception, bringing to life in images the intimate feeling of the wearer of that dress when someone steps beyond the mirror and plunges into that “elsewhere” constructed by our unexpressed desires and needs. As Alessandro Michele says, “A dress after all is always a bridge that allows a body to imagine a future that may never exist.”

I know a girl who in her physical features, reflects well the gender fluidity that today’s youth see as normal. I needed her face and bearing to bring the images of this series to life. This girl, although she floods “private” socials profiles with her images visible only once, is reluctant to be photographed. To convince her, I told her that I was not interested in her essence but solely in her form because it would allow me to bring a parallel life to life. I would use her form as a mannequin that I would dress through my imagination, projecting her into probably nonexistent universes.

I needed two photographs: one of her face (to train the AI to generate a protagonist inspired by the features of my model, but without creating in anyone the doubt that it could be her) and the other full-body, simulating a fashion show, even though she was wearing a tracksuit. I could have even done without this second image because AI would have allowed me to generate any pose I wanted but, as a photographer, I am used to taking extra shots…just in case…and besides, my model has a special poise for me that I wanted to preserve in the real images.

I have therefore put AI at the service of my imagination, always keeping in mind the goal of making visible and thus making speak a series of lives that would never have existed without AI and without Haisea (fictitious name of my Basque model).

Each image is meant to represent the moment when the girl I made to wear a certain dress, sees herself in the mirror and goes through it to enter that psychic geography that she would never have visited had she depended solely on her anatomy. A game of multiple indirectness enabled by AI, underlying which, however, is Haisea’s real form and the image maker’s real intention to represent what I tried to convey.

Haisea has reviewed and approved each of the images I finally publish, although she tells me that she does not recognize herself in the images and in the shapes I visualized. However, she tells me that she recognizes herself perfectly in the essence that is revealed between the lines of the images that make up the series.

I think this has the unbelievable! …I managed to convince her to be photographed by promising her that I would use only her forms and not the essence and the result is that she seems to have captured her essence, through the forms!!!! I believe this is really proof of what Alessandro Michele says in the book, “to wear a dress is to make ourselves indistinguishable from what we imagined ourselves to be.”

I believe that ultimately, this series is an excellent example of how a tool like generative AI can help empower creative abilities, generating new visual forms of expression that still enrich the heritage of those who enjoy them and try even for a moment to make a reflection…but also filling with satisfaction the one who thought of and created them! considering that without AI this idea would have remained unexpressed in the depths of my being and would never have seen the light. Do you agree or do you simply brand me an opportunist?