Futurism, Cubism and Surrealism Collide in David LaChapelle’s Mercedes-Maybach Collaboration
Hypeart attended the unveiling during Salone del Mobile and test drove an ultra-limited Haute Voiture around the Italian countryside.
Dialogue through disruption are key attributes in the work of acclaimed American director and photographer, David LaChapelle. It was LaChapelle, who over the course of three plus decades, captured the biggest celebrities in the world, recontextualizing their image in a unique surrealist pastiche, from Tupac Shakur as a saint, Ye as Jesus Christ to Paris Hilton in all of her pomp and unapologetic effervescence. LaChapelle is a perfectionist, as is apparent through his meticulous sets and attention to detail, which tied quite harmoniously through his latest partnership with the team at Mercedes-Maybach.
Unveiled last week during Milan’s annual Salone del Mobile, LaChapelle was tasked with imparting the feeling of Maybach’s fleet of vehicles, including the S-Class, GLS and the new all-electric EQS SUV. Playing into the automaker’s slogan, “The Best or Nothing”, each vehicle doesn’t skimp on a single detail — built with both state-of-the-art performance and luxury within every seam and bolt. Similarly, “creativity, art and design are deeply rooted” in the Maybach brand, Daniel Lescow, Head of Mercedes‑Maybach at Mercedes‑Benz Group AG, tells Hypeart atop the rooftop of Milan’s Palazzo Cordusio Gran Meliá. “It is more than a vehicle. It’s about the exceptional feeling you have when riding the car — experiencing it with all your senses, the live concert feeling inside the car. It provokes different feelings to different people and art is a great way of expressing that,” Lescow mused.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
LaChapelle, who admittedly is not a “car guy,” had his “mind blown” when visiting the Maybach HQ in Germany, he tells a crowd of international guests sipping champagne at the Gallery Meravigli preparing to watch olympic athletes, gymnasts and dancers perform incredible feats to match several of the photographs he created specifically for the Maybach campaign. The acclaimed photographer and music video director toured the archives of the German automaker, seeing what has been accomplished in its nearly 100-year history, as well as what the team has in the works for the future. Developed with longtime collaborator, set designer Annie Sperling, alongside four-time Academy Award Winner for Best Costume Design, Colleen Atwood, to develop three images centered around three of the 20th century’s most impactful genres of art: Futurism, Cubism and Surrealism.
The latter set features a candy-colored sky, as suited chauffeurs float alongside ballerinas in colorful tutus, while an inflatable hand hovers over the Mercedes-Maybach EQS. The concept was surely LaChapelle’s idea, but he was equally interested in the future-primitive concepts that the team at Maybach brought to the table — most notably in the Futurism tableau, probing into the mysteries “of the Egyptian pyramids and how they were built,” LaChapelle explains. “We’re taught that the pyramids were from a primitive culture when we were in school, yet we don’t even know how they were built today. It was a much more advanced culture than we can even wrap our heads around.” Instead of using highly digital renderings, LaChapelle and his team of award-winning creatives built the set by hand and employed real people to perform otherworldly displays. “It is an honor to be part of the Maybach legacy and play in that beyond,” LaChapelle notes of the partnership.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Courtesy Of Mercedes-Maybach.
Hypeart was one of the lucky few guests who were allowed to test drive the all-electric Mercedes-Maybach Haute Voiture, an over $400,000 USD yacht of a vehicle. Limited to just 150 units worldwide, the car is like a moving sculpture — built with 621 horsepower, sumptuous trimmings including contrasting bouclé fabric made of blue, beige, rosé and gold yarns, as well as a suite of different massaging options for your back and legs in all four chairs of the vehicle. Make sure to tap the intense option for full blast.
Naturally, the thought of driving a car as expensive as a Picasso would strike fear into anyone — especially considering a city like Milan, known for its reckless drivers. Once outside the city, however, the tensions gave way to a breeze of an experience, like floating on a cloud that hovered over the road as the sunny Italian countryside whisked away in the distance. Like the neighboring Como district, with its famed sapphire blue waters, the Haute Voiture was delicately hand-built with a nautical blue and light rosé two-tone finish, atop 22-inch rims that discreetly featured a monogram pattern of the Maybach logo.
On the way back from Milan, we passed by the famous San Siro stadium, home to both AC Milan and Inter, the two sides meeting just days later in the fabled Derby della Madonnina. Inter would secure the win, as well as clinch its 20th Scudetto title, causing an uproar of celebrating fans in the Piazza del Duomo later that night. While not as trophy starved as say defending champions Napoli were a year prior, it’s the type of party that money can’t buy. But then again, if you have $400,000 USD laying around, the Mercedes-Maybach Haute Voiture is your own party with every ride.
