A conversation with Pucci&rsquo;s artistic director, Camille Miceli, who, after roles at Dior and Louis Vuitton, has landed at the Italian fashion house to breathe new life into the brand&rsquo;s joyful, psychedelic prints.

Photography by Jean-Baptste Mondino

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: What&rsquo;s your first memory of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/emilio-pucci-prints-history-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pucci</a>?
CAMILLE MICELI: Ah, there were two things. First there was my grandma, who used to have the jersey tops. I loved the way she would mix them with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/animal-print-outfits-leopard-print-shopping" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prints</a> from other classic fashion houses. And then the other memory is when I was [working in public relations] at <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gabrielle-chanel-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chanel</a>, like at the beginning of the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/young-kate-moss-90s-style-runway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&lsquo;90s</a>. There was this comeback of Pucci&mdash;vintage Pucci. And I remember the girls, especially <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/linda-evangelista-best-runway-moments-age-90s-supermodel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Linda Evangelista</a> and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/helena-christensen-pandora-mothers-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Helena Christensen</a>, wearing it. And I liked it, so I also bought some for myself.

L&rsquo;O: What drew you to the house?
CM: For me it represents an Italian glamour, and a certain way of living. But the thing that I love about Pucci is that, while it&rsquo;s a fashion house, it&rsquo;s also quite easy and wearable; it&rsquo;s a no-brainer. Of course, the lifestyle and all the joyfulness comes from those prints. There&rsquo;s something so psychedelic about them&mdash;something so crazy. I would&rsquo;ve loved to meet the man who first created them [Emilio Pucci]. He must have had such a frivolity and such a freedom. And I like free people; I like people that just do the things they love without questioning themselves too much. I feel very connected to Emilio. The designs come very easily. Spontaneously.&nbsp; 
L&rsquo;O: How do you incorporate Pucci&rsquo;s heritage into your designs?&nbsp;
CM: I often go into the archive to look for prints, because I only want to work with Emilio&rsquo;s prints that we redraw by hand, not with the computer. After putting together the ones I like the team and I speak about how we want the collection to feel. I&rsquo;m always inspired by the 1970s and sometimes the &lsquo;60s, which was a big decade for the brand.
It&rsquo;s very important for me to be able to mold myself to fit where I&rsquo;m working while still seeing it through my own lens. The things I created for Louis Vuitton were different from what I did for Dior. I think it&rsquo;s very important as a designer to respect where you are. Of course you put a hint of your own personality, but the star is the house.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: Who is the Pucci woman?&nbsp;
CM: For me, Pucci is for a woman who knows herself; she&rsquo;s free. She has a passion for life for sure; she <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/cozy-up-in-edinburgh-this-winter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">travels</a> around the world and is <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/what-is-frenchness-fashion-art-culture-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cultured</a>. She&rsquo;s curious and she&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/womens-movement-feminist-fashion-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">feminine</a>. Though there is femininity, I try to mix in a bit of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/best-white-tshirts-wardrobe-staple-summer-style-basics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boyishness</a>. There are no barriers when it comes to generations. For me, it&rsquo;s really about family&mdash;that&rsquo;s why the Resort 2023 collection was called La Famiglia. There&rsquo;s no one person who wears Pucci, there&rsquo;s something for a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother. For each collection I like to start with a story that relates to Emilio, and through that I&rsquo;m trying to further develop who this woman is. I try to have a bit of his personality come out of each collection.&nbsp;
Sometimes just a print can be the basis of a collection. For example, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/70s-fashion-designers-emilio-pucci-diane-von-furstenberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emilio</a> created the Marmo print when he was in Capri, and the reflection of the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/face-sunscreen-skincare-tips" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sun</a> onto the sea gave him the inspiration for it.&nbsp; 
L&rsquo;O: How would you define your Pucci?&nbsp;
CM: Joy, for sure. It&rsquo;s for someone who wants to show up as themselves. You&rsquo;re wearing prints, you&rsquo;re wearing colors; you&rsquo;re not a hidden person. You&rsquo;re very self-<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/khaite-fall-winter-2023-collection-show-fashion-week-nyfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confident</a>.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;ve also been developing more <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/mens-trends-fashion-week-paris-milan-fall-winter-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">menswear</a>.&nbsp;
CM: Why not? The men&rsquo;s business is big. From the first collection, I included things that were <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/what-is-genderful-fashion-gender-neutral-fluid-inclusive-harry-styles-troye-sivan-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unisex</a>, which I think is always cool. I love the fact that a woman can take some traditionally &ldquo;men&rsquo;s&rdquo; pieces from the man&rsquo;s collection and mix it into her own wardrobe. It&rsquo;s so indicative of our time. We&rsquo;ll never be a suiting company, but I think there is a space there. I also have a son who is 22 years old, and he and his friends love the clothes. They also don&rsquo;t buy too much; they go for quality. Sometimes a few of them will pool their money and buy something together and share it. I love that.&nbsp; 
L&rsquo;O: You recently collaborated with skiwear brand Fusalp. Do you have any others coming up?&nbsp;
CM: As a smaller house, I think it&rsquo;s a great thing to collaborate with other brands, where we can both contribute our knowledge and resources. I really wanted to do <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/skiwear-brands-luxury-fashion-chic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skiwea</a>r, and I&rsquo;ve always liked what Fusalp was doing, especially because they only use technical materials, so there is a lot of research behind their pieces. Hopefully we&rsquo;ll do something more together.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;ve worked for many big fashion houses, like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Dior. What did you learn from your mentors there?&nbsp;
CM: I&rsquo;ve been super lucky to work for those big houses; I learned a lot from them. Seeing the way business was handled was really helpful, especially as Pucci is a smaller house with a small team. I began my fashion career with an internship with Mr. [Azzedine] Ala&iuml;a. He was so meticulous. I&rsquo;ve become a bit like him, and adopted this philosophy of, when you agree to do something, you have to do it deeply until the end, and do it perfectly. I mean, as perfectly as you can. And then Karl [Lagerfeld] was the king of marketing. He had a mindset of how to do things, and it was something I kept in mind when doing see-now-buy-now for Pucci as well as creating mood boards.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: What is your dream for Pucci?
&nbsp;CM: The goal would be to have a place in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/monteverdi-tuscany-2019-italy-travel-architecture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tuscany</a>, in the middle of nature. It would be <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/sustainable-bags-luxury-shopping" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustainable</a> and we&rsquo;d grow our own food. It would be a hotel and place for <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/wellness/what-is-blue-monday-new-years-resolutions-wellness-tips" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wellness</a>; you could do yoga or ceramics, and it could also be an artist residence. And maybe also to go to space.

Camille Miceli Talks Taking Over Pucci and Self-Confidence

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