The new brand ambassador stars in “What are Dreams,” a black-and-white photo series and short film shot by the legendary photographer at his New York home.
Summary
- Bottega Veneta released “What are Dreams,” a short film and photo series starring brand ambassador Jacob Elordi and created by photographer Duane Michals.
- Shot in black and white, the project draws on Surrealism, using props like convex mirrors and suspended feathers that are signatures of Michals’ work.
- The collaboration bridges the house’s past (Michals shot a 1985 campaign) and present (Elordi was appointed in May 2024).
Bottega Veneta has paired its brand ambassador, Jacob Elordi, with the photographer Duane Michals. The project, titled “What are Dreams,” includes a short film and a photo series.
Shot in black and white at Michals’ New York residence, the collaboration draws on Michals’ history with Surrealism to look at the unconscious and the imaginary.
The 12 images position Elordi in mysterious, enigmatic situations. These setups use poetic props that have often appeared in Michals’ work, such as a billowing curtain, a convex mirror, a tilted pedestal, and a suspended feather. Several elements recall Surrealist artists Michals admires, especially Giorgio de Chirico and Réné Magritte.
Text is a key component. In the short film, Elordi reads Michals’ poem “What are Dreams,” originally published in his 2001 book Questions without Answers. The poem evokes the “midnight movies of the mind…where things look familiar, but not at all the same”. Excerpts of the poem also appear across some images, written in Michals’ own hand.
“I’m very much interested in the realm of the invisible,” reflects Michals. “My problem is how do I make the invisible visible? Of course movie making is also a dream, and Frankenstein is a scary dream. Jacob understood exactly what I was trying to do with the project. He was right there for the magic and the mystery of it.”
The project brings together artists of different generations. It also links Bottega Veneta’s history with its current direction; Michals shot a campaign for the house back in 1985, while Elordi was appointed Brand Ambassador in May 2024.