BY SHELDON
When I first heard of Nicola Formichetti was because the name actually came out after all the crazy extravagant outfits Lady Gaga started wearing. I've never been into Lady Gaga or her music and I've always thought everything about her is too planned, but I had to give credit to the guy that came up with all that crazy styling.
In 2010 Nicola was appointed creative director of the French fashion house MUGLER. I followed some the runway shows and thought he gave MUGLER the kind of erotic/tech styling Lady Gaga was wearing at the time and that it was impossible for a regular person to wear any of the clothing (well, maybe you could save a jacket or two). But still, there was something creative and fresh in the mix of fabrics, colors and cuts that couldn't go unnoticed.
After some time, Nicola shocked everyone by discovering and making Rick Genest, commonly known as Zombie Boy (a guy with tattoos all over his body resembling a skeleton) his muse and the image of MUGLER. Rick suddenly became quite famous and started shooting spreads for different fashion magazines all over the world. This was just another example of the vision and creativity of Nicola's mind.
Last week he opened a pop up shop in Tribeca for fashion's night out. If you take a look at the pictures you'll see you would've wanted to be there. The items sold at the store were just the kind of pieces you would expect from Formichetti: crazy, extravagant, erotic, punk, items that are almost impossible to wear unless you are of course Lady Gaga; but they were all perfectly selected and they had this fresh creativeness that is nowadays hard to find. Since then, after having thought Formichetti was just another guy taking it to the limit in order to get attention, I started giving the man some credit for his work.
Nicola is currently the fashion director of UNIQLO (a Japanese retailing company that I really like for having excellent clothing at really reasonable prices) and he's working in a project named The UNIQLO Innovation Project focused on creating the 'uniform of the future'. By this time I'm really excited to see Nicola's next move.
I have come to admire Formichetti's creativity and taste. In 2010 he was named one of the most influential creative forces working in fashion and I think he will continue to be one for quite some time.