Après Dinner, AMI’s Alexandre Mattiussi Wants to Go to Twist

The Parisian brand AMI, spearheaded by Alexandre Mattiussi, brought “FAMILY,” its traveling exhibition, to Miami this week for Art Basel. The French invasion was in full effect Wednesday night when the brand, in collaboration with Innovation Gallery, two video artists, and 13 members of Magnum Photos, was commissioned to interpret the ever-changing concept of family. The celebration was followed by an exclusive dinner at Swan, located in the heart of Miami’s design district, where partygoers, surrounded by gaggles of male models in AMI, sipped espresso martinis around a koi pond and exchanged fashion and art-world gossip like hair-ties. In attendance were friends of Mattiussi’s, like Karlie Kloss and Derek Blasberg, and of course Interview editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg, who chatted up the guests after enjoying a special performance by Moses Sumney that went down like “a nice relaxing tea and a bath.”

———

ALEXANDRE MATTIUSSI

 

MEL OTTENBERG: No. Stop being shy. Je suis ton ami.

MATTIUSSI: Tu et mon ami!

OTTENBERG: Pas une problème, c’est très facile.

MATTIUSSI: Can we go there?

OTTENBERG: Oh yeah. We can go there in case it’s too loud.

MATTIUSSI: Okay. Sounds like a plan.

OTTENBERG:  Okay. But it’ll be in English.

MATTIUSSI: Okay.

OTTENBERG: Hey, what’s your name?

MATTIUSSI: My name is Alexandre Mattiusi.

OTTENBERG: Okay. Are you hosting this party?

MATTIUSSI: I’m hosting this party.

OTTENBERG: What are you wearing?

MATTIUSSI: What I’m wearing?

OTTENBERG: Yeah.

MATTIUSSI: I’m wearing a white t-shirt, black shirt, black trousers, and a white pair of trainers. All are AMI.

OTTENBERG: Oh, right, right, right.

MATTIUSSI: Right, right, right.

OTTENBERG: Wait, are we going out tonight? You want to go out?

MATTIUSSI: I want to go out.

OTTENBERG: You want to go to Twist?

MATTIUSSI: Twist? 

OTTENBERG: That’s where you want to go?

MATTIUSSI: Well, you tell me. It’s a good—

OTTENBERG: No, no, no, no, no. Ç’est parfait pour ce soir, During Basel it’s extra fun.

MATTIUSSI: Okay. So, let’s go there.

OTTENBERG: Yeah, we’ll go.

MATTIUSSI: Please.

OTTENBERG: That’s the interview. It wasn’t that terrible.

MATTIUSSI: No, it was easy.

OTTENBERG: No, it’s fine.

MATTIUSSI: Bisoux, bisoux.

LUCAS BRAVO

 

OTTENBERG: Hey, what’s your name?

BRAVO: I’m Lucas Bravo.

OTTENBERG: Oh, wow. It’s so nice to meet you.

BRAVO: So nice to meet you, as well.

OTTENBERG: You are an actor from France?

BRAVO: Yes.

OTTENBERG: You are a heartthrob. We are smoking cigarettes.

BRAVO: We are.

OTTENBERG: They’re Parliaments. They’re yours. We’re new friends. We just had a really deep heart-to-heart conversation. So wait, what questions should I ask you that are on the record, though? What do you think about Miami?

BRAVO: I think Miami is Miami. The contrast of the conversation we have just had, I feel like Miami’s the yin to the yang of our conversation.

OTTENBERG: Yes. It’s the heartthrob of our conversation. It’s the weird glamour drag babe.

BRAVO: It’s the label on our undamped shadow.

OTTENBERG: It’s the logo, but it’s also sort of fun. Are you going to go out tonight?

BRAVO: I don’t know if I’m going to go out. To be honest, Moses [Sumney] put me in a very contemplative, soul-searching state.

OTTENBERG: I feel like we had a really nice relaxing tea and a bath via Moses. Are you going to get in the pool tomorrow, or are you going to get in the ocean?

BRAVO: I’m more of an ocean guy. I’m going to go for the organic water—let it pollute me.

OTTENBERG: It’ll cure both of us. We will be cured.

BRAVO: There’s one thing I learned about the ocean: whatever your trouble is, whatever you’re going through, just going all the way in and out, just one little dive, cleans a lot of things and brings a lot of perspective. It’s always very—it’s a medicine.

OTTENBERG: Yes, ocean.

BRAVO: Yes, ocean.

OTTENBERG: Wait, what are you wearing right now?

BRAVO: I’m wearing AMI in Miami.

OTTENBERG: Oh, yeah. AMI in Miami. Okay, hot. Well, Lucas, great talking to you off the record. Fine talking to you on the record.

BRAVO: Likewise.

MOSES SUMNEY

 

OTTENBERG: Hey, what’s your name?

SUMNEY: Moses.

OTTENBERG: Oh wow. You look so great in this sparkle top. Who makes it?

SUMNEY: AMI Paris.

OTTENBERG: I really love your three songs.

SUMNEY: Thank you.

OTTENBERG: “Plastic” is my favorite song. I’m not feeling very plastic right now, but we’re in a very plastic place. What do you think about Miami? Are you into plastic emptiness? I feel like you’re into plastic emptiness and like deep shit, babe?

SUMNEY: I’m into depth. I’m definitely into existential depth, but I’m also…

OTTENBERG: I almost dropped my phone. Okay. It’s still going. You’re into depth.

SUMNEY: I’m into existential depth, but I’m also into beauty.

OTTENBERG: Yes.

SUMNEY: And beauty and plastic are definitely intersectional, I think.

OTTENBERG: Yes.

SUMNEY: What I like about Miami, especially after living in L.A. for seven years, is that they’re very honest about their plasticity.

OTTENBERG: In Miami?

SUMNEY: Yes. In Miami.

OTTENBERG: Yes, yes, yes. Right. You’re clearly a deep soul, but when you’re unapologetically deep, you can get into some, into the shallow grave of plasticity.

SUMNEY: Yeah, absolutely. I want to be objectified, and Miami allows that. Sometimes I’m like, “Stop seeing me for my death.”

OTTENBERG: Yes.

SUMNEY: I want to be an object.

OTTENBERG: Yes. You just want to give body and platinum hair.

SUMNEY: And yes, I want to give dumb bitch.

OTTENBERG: Yes.

SUMNEY: Yes. Hot, dumb bitch.

OTTENBERG: Wait, speaking of hot, dumb bitches, what is Moses’s bathing suit decision for tomorrow in Miami?

SUMNEY: Wow. I just have a classic black swim trunk. I don’t do Speedos. I don’t do shorter than a swim trunk. I don’t do a brand.

OTTENBERG: What brand is it?

SUMNEY: I don’t know, to be very honest with you.

OTTENBERG: Okay. I think we’re wearing the same thing. And also regarding plastic, what would you do to your face, let’s say, 20 years from now? It’s 2042.

SUMNEY: Well, you know what, I would get very exaggerated cheek bones.

OTTENBERG: Hell yes.

SUMNEY: Just like two tennis balls right here.

OTTENBERG: I think it might really turn it.

SUMNEY: You know?

OTTENBERG: You might have a major comeback in 2042 with that.

SUMNEY: I think that’s the thing that will bring me back.

OTTENBERG: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.

SUMNEY: And maybe a horn.

OTTENBERG: And a what?

SUMNEY: Horns. Little baby horns.

OTTENBERG: Wait, so you’re putting them right at the top of your hairline?

SUMNEY: Exactly.

OTTENBERG: On both corners.

SUMNEY: On both corners.

OTTENBERG: Like a half-an-inch or an inch?

SUMNEY: I think half-an-inch. A semi, dare I say?

OTTENBERG: Cute.

SUMNEY: Yeah.

OTTENBERG: All right. I’ll see you in 2042. Wait, are we going to Twist tonight?

SUMNEY: No comment.

OTTENBERG: Oh wait, so you’re not going?

SUMNEY: I feel like I really shouldn’t be going. I’ve got a big day tomorrow.

OTTENBERG: No comment. No comment. We’ll keep it chic. We’ll leave it at that.

SUMNEY: We’re going to keep it chic.

OTTENBERG: Okay. Thanks. Bye.