Because starting his tenure at Gucci, developer Alessandro Michele has made it his objective to give a system to promising artists. From the aptly named street artist GucciGhost to 23-year-old British illustrator Angelica Hicks (that’s likewise among our picks for must-follow funny ladies on Instagram) to Spanish it girl Coco Capitán, Michele has tapped a coterie of trendy youngsters to produce limited-edition layouts as well as advertising takeovers for the brand name.
His latest choice, a British musician named Helen Downie, who works under the moniker Unskilled Worker, has both the timeless Gucci aesthetic and an extremely motivating backstory.
At 52 years old, Downie is substantially extra skilled than the common Michele collaborator. According to T Magazine, she started repainting in her late 40s after obtaining clean from medicines and after that being identified with bust cancer cells simply 10 months later.
She is totally self-taught, and also rapidly found fame many thanks to Instagram (that’s where Michele ultimately found her work), where she currently has 241,000 fans and also checking. She completed her initial paint, of a little lady she found in an Italian delicious chocolate shop, after completing the cancer cells treatment, and also states she commonly does them in a solitary day since she can not sleep until they’re finished.
“My art work is based around disorder and errors and also patching things up, and that’s truly just how my life has actually been,” Downie told T in 2015.
If Downie’s styles, which include unbalanced flower concepts and also big-eyed females in a range of outrageous, embellished ensembles, seem nearly too completely Gucci, that might be since it’s not the first time she’s collaborated with the brand name. In 2015, Michele appointed pictures from her to show his Fall 2015 collection for an exhibition at the Minsheng Art Museum of Shanghai. “I was gobsmacked when I went. By the time the third model appeared, I wanted to sob,” Downie said of the experience of attending her first Gucci show.
Along with having her paintings decorated on lovely bags, shoes, gowns, skirts, tops, as well as accessories, Downie will also reach take over Gucci’s global art wall surfaces in Milan, New York, Paris, and Shanghai.
According to WWD, the cooperation will be available in stores and also online on October 11, so start pinching those cents now, and also prepare to see Downie’s wide-eyed females everywhere. Oh, as well as following time you’re seeming like it’s too late to follow your dreams, remember Downie’s incredible story.