By Melvin Browne
Hip-Hop Artist Nicki Minaj covers the November Issue of W Magazine for their ART & FASHION issue. Dressed in Haute Couture dresses by Versace and Dior, Art Director Francesco Vezzoli details his inspiration behind this 18th Century masterpiece.
Francesco Vezzoli was asked what perked his interest when it came to working with Nicki Minaj, to which he replied, “I wanted to play with the public image of a female hip-hop star. During my entire career, I have always been fascinated by powerful women in history. I have spent a lot of time researching the ways they were represented in art and how their images were used to mold the public imagination—and to convey aesthetic and philosophical ideas about beauty and sexual desire. My main interest has been to link the historical artistic approach to female representation to contemporary icons of the
media era. For W, I wanted to turn the lovely Nicki Minaj into a powdered 18th-century courtesan.”
He also details how he was able to transform Nicki Minaj into the perfect image, Francesco said, “In her performances, Minaj makes very explicit and challenging use of her beauty and her body, so I thought of comparing her to some of the most famous courtesans in history: the Marquise de Montespan, Comtesse du Barry, Madame de Pompadour, and Madame Rimsky-Korsakov. My idea was to reproduce four iconic portraits of some of the most fascinating females of the past in a series starring an American pop-culture role model. We tried to re-create those original portraits using similar furniture, props, and clothing, à la Visconti. Luckily enough, the result came out as surreal as it could be, just as I wished.”
Nicki Minaj is really advancing her career and revolutionizing what it means to be an Artist. W Magazine is recognized worldwide as Fashion’s Bible with pictures. Recognize and Appreciate her TALENT… Enjoy!
Triple Threat Justin hits the October Issue of Esquire Magazine. In a detailed interview with Esquire editors detailed that “Justin Timberlake is — and has become an oversize success mostly because he is — just a dude”.
