Benedetta Porcaroli directs the short-film for Gucci new project "Absolute Beginners"

Benedetta Porcaroli, sitting on a bench in Villa Borghese, Rome, is caught by a mysterious woman in a shimmering yellow dress and, like Alice with the White Rabbit, follows her, touches her, and realizes that she reconnected with herself. This is the story told by the short-movie created by Baby's actress for Absolute Begginers, Gucci's and Dazed's new project involving nine artists who for the first time are behind the camera: Benedetta Porcaroli, Elle Fanning, Emma Corrin, Jodie Turner-Smith, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lily Gavin, Barry Keoghan, Yoshi and Arlo Parks. Each of these talents developed their own screenplay and brought it to life by directing their own short film. The idea behind all the projects? "Celebrates the potency of pop culture and naïveté, the beauty in amateurism, and exposes the power and vulnerability of the creative impulse," including the Gucci Jackie 1961 bag into the narrative. 

I loved being on the other side of the camera. I’m fascinated by the study of light and perspectives. Working on set I learnt to look at all the people around me – I tried to replicate what I’ve seen in my experiences on set.

Benedetta Porcaroli said on her experience as first-time director; while Elle Fanning, who often wore Alessandro Michele's clothes on the red carpet, wondered "why not tell a funny story while looking at sparkling garments?" and so she filmed the surreal race between a dog and its owner, both hypnotized by the beauty of Gucci clothes.

Actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. instead explored the fear of love.

The concept initially came from someone I was seeing who told me that the risk of falling in love was greater than the reward. They had come to believe that after so many unsuccessful attempts at sustaining a long-lasting relationship it was unfair to expect anyone to take on their accompanying baggage. It was suggested I may be naive to believe that someone could not only handle the baggage of another but embrace it with authorship as if it were their own.

Emma Corrin, the actress who plays Diana Spencer in the fourth season of The Crown, paid homage to classic western films to tell the story of the relationship between a mother and daughter, reunited in a barren British landscape.

Jodie Turner-Smith, talking about her short-movie, said:

Clothing and dressing are in many ways the sort of ‘backbone’ of the film. The entire idea of the film began with the Gucci Jackie 1961 bag — who is the woman who wears this bag, who is Jackie? What we wear is the costume we put on to show the world. And I just imagined this story based on this woman who uses costume as her escape. Who pours all of this love into what she wears, but not so that she can show it to the world. Jackie does it strictly for herself. She puts on a gown and walks down to the pool. She’s just that kind of woman.

The other four films, directed by Lily Gavin, Barry Keoghan, Yoshi and Arlo Parks, will be unveiled on November 6. 

Absolute Beginners aims to go viral on social media thanks to Morgan Presley, the creator behind TikTok's viral Gucci Model Challenge, who will promote the series with her video #GucciAbsoluteBeginners guide to living a Gucci life.