IN CONVERSATION WITH LUCA CASULLI AND EUGENIO CALINI

interview by MAREK BARTEK

Gian Paolo Barbieri was a master of photography. Someone who revolutionised the craft and expanded on the possibilities of it. His work spanned from fashion to travel, collaborating with some of the Italian’s finest, including Armani, Versace or Valentino. From 25 September till 15 January, we will have the opportunity to admire his creative genius at the Eternal Elegance exhibition. Staged in Milan, at Zurich Italy’s headquarters and art space, it will showcase Barbieri’s remarkable body of work, including never-before-seen photographs. Ahead of the opening of Eternal Elegance, we sat down with Luca Casulli and Eugenio Calini, founders of the 29 Arts in Progress Gallery, curators of the exhibition and long-standing global gallerists of Gian Paolo Barbieri.

GIAN PAOLO BARBIERI at Seychelles (1984)

Gian Paolo Barbieri was described as giving Italian fashion “a unique face no one had imagined before.” From your perspective, what do you feel was the essence of his vision that continues to resonate most strongly today?

Barbieri’s life’s work was to transform fashion photography into culture. He gave Italian fashion a face that was theatrical yet intimate, cultivated yet ironic. His women were never static mannequins, but figures of sensuality, humour, and elegance. That combination of rigour and humanity continues to resonate because it transcends fashion as trend, and instead, reveals it as a universal language of identity and beauty.

With a career spanning over six decades, how did you decide which works would anchor Eternal Elegance and which lesser-known pieces deserved to emerge now?

The guiding principle was dialogue. We anchored the show with his most iconic fashion images — Armani, Versace, Ferré, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana — that defined the golden era of Made in Italy. Alongside them, we included lesser-known editorials from the 1960s through the 2000s, where Barbieri’s irony and theatrical sensibility shine through. The juxtaposition allows us to honour the milestones of his career while revealing the freshness of works that had remained in the shadows.

What was it like to collaborate with Gian Paolo over so many years? Can you share something about his working process or studio atmosphere that shaped the way you present his work today?

His studio was like entering a theatre. Every shoot was meticulously orchestrated from lighting, makeup to gesture, and yet the atmosphere was full of playfulness. Barbieri demanded discipline, but he disarmed with irony and warmth. That balance is central to how we present his work today: not as static fashion images, but as living encounters charged with intelligence, humour, and theatricality.

Barbieri’s body of work goes from high fashion editorials for Vogue and Armani campaigns to travel works in Tahiti and Madagascar. How do you see these seemingly different bodies of work conversing with each other within Eternal Elegance?

Even though Eternal Elegance is centred on fashion, the spirit of Barbieri’s travels remains present as part of his vision. Whether photographing haute couture in Milan or tattoos in Tahiti, he always staged beauty through a cultural lens. The dialogue is seamless: his fashion photographs carry the freedom and sensuality of his travels, while his travel images are constructed with the precision and artistry of fashion. Both testify to his belief that elegance is a universal expression.

left: AUDREY HEPBURN in Valentino Vogue Italia Roma (1969), photographed by GIAN PAOLO BARBIERI, courtesy of 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS GALLERY

right: MONICA BELLUCCI for Dolce & Gabbana (2000), photographed by GIAN PAOLO BARBIERI, courtesy of 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS GALLERY

This exhibition also includes unseen works that were discovered through deep archival research. What was it like for you to revisit these hidden photographs, and did any of them surprise you or reveal new sides of Gian Paolo that even you hadn’t encountered before?

Revisiting the archive was a revelation. We discovered photographs where Barbieri allowed himself to experiment more boldly with humour, composition, and gesture. Some images from the 1960s to the 2000s felt uncannily fresh, almost as if they had been created today. They reminded us that Barbieri was not only a master of style, but also a constant innovator, unafraid to push boundaries and expand the cultural vocabulary of fashion photography.

One of the exhibition’s highlights is how Barbieri’s women abandoned traditional poses to embody a more relaxed, sensual elegance. How do you interpret this approach today, especially in the context of ongoing conversations about representation and the female gaze in fashion photography?

Barbieri liberated women from rigidity. His models recline, laugh, confront the camera with irony, and above all, with character. They are not passive objects of desire, but protagonists of their own narrative. Seen today, these images anticipate the discourse on representation: they affirm the subject’s right to occupy space with sensuality, freedom, and individuality, decades before such ideas became central in fashion photography.

Barbieri drew from cinema, theatre, and art history while simultaneously helping to define the golden era of Made in Italy, working with many Italian designers. How do you see this movement and collaborations influenced his artistic expression?

The dialogue with designers like Armani, Versace, Ferré, Valentino, and Dolce & Gabbana was symbiotic. Barbieri infused their creations with the dramaturgy of cinema and the symbolism of art history, while their clothes expanded his visual possibilities. Together, they forged the mythology of Italian fashion as culture: elegant, bold, and deeply rooted in artistic tradition, yet projected onto the global stage.

People who will come see the exhibition might be discovering Barbieri for the first time. How do you hope younger generations, raised on a completely different visual culture, will connect with his work?

I hope they will be astonished by the craftsmanship. In an age of instant imagery, Barbieri reminds us that a photograph can be as carefully composed as a painting or a film scene. Younger generations may discover in his work not nostalgia, but a radical lesson: that elegance is not a filter or a trend, but a cultural attitude — a way of looking at the world with depth, respect, and imagination.

CHRISTY TURLINGTON in Yves Saint Laurent (1988), photographed by GIAN PAOLO BARBIERI, courtesy of 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS GALLERY