STYLE Edit: What links Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weis to Gucci’s limited-edition artbook, Oviparity?

Perhaps the chicest coffee table book to buy this year is the new limited-edition Gucci artbook, Oviparity, created by Yorgos Lanthimos.

The artbook is a series of portfolio images for Gucci Cruise 2020, inspired by creative director Alessandro Michele’s unique and eclectic vision for the collection. Lanthimos, an award-winning writer and filmmaker, was also commissioned to shoot the lookbook for Michele’s Cruise 2020 collection.

The Greek director is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-nominated film The Favourite, which stars Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. Colman won Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 2018 for her role in the period dark comedy, before going on to star in the Netflix series The Crown as Queen Elizabeth.

Shot at the Leda Gallery in the Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome, the Gucci artbook hints at the Ancient Greek myth of Leda and the Swan in its title, Oviparity. In some versions of the myth – where Leda, an Aetolian princess, is seduced by Zeus disguised as a swan – the princess becomes oviparous and lays two eggs from which two of her children hatch. Helen of Troy – the “face that launched a thousand ships” – is one of the daughters from this intimate relationship.

The artbook features elderly characters powdered in white to mimic the look of ancient sculptures, with younger models dressed in the colours and patterns of the Gucci Cruise collection appearing alongside them. It presents an intriguing dichotomy of seemingly eternal, immutable statues and the transience of human life. All with the occasional fish-eye camera lens shot.

We are also treated to images of the curated Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures that can be found in the gallery at the Villa Albani Torlonia.