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Patrick and Victor Demarchelier’s What’s Contemporary
What’s Contemporary by Patrick and Victor Demarchelier
Timeless is a word we all use, and one we often bear in mind with focused intention when creating images today. Despite the ubiquity of the concept of timelessness, to successfully achieve such magic is a feat very few can accomplish, much less accomplish time after time. The name Demarchelier hangs like an iconic banner of such imagery over the pages of countless magazines and endless advertising campaigns today and through decades past. As contemporary is frequently defined as ‘A person or thing living or existing at the same time as another,’ we thought it would be an incredible concept to invite the Demarcheliers of two different generations to present together their idea of contemporary as it exists in our time. Rather than interpret the same subject from contrasting generational points of view, Patrick and Victor found it more interesting to come together and create images that, for them, represent a timeless and classic aesthetic that has always been, and will forever be, contemporary. Selecting six of the most stunning models of our time as their subject matter, they have successfully created the most epic moment ever created for an online platform, proving that the quality of content is in no way dependent on the platform through which it is experienced.
Epic, timeless and classic, ContemporaryIS Patrick & Victor Demarchelier.
Credits:
Photography Patrick Demarchelier
Photography Victor Demarchelier (Paris/New York: Management + Artists)
Stylist William Graper
Editor Christopher Michael / What’s Contemporary
Introduction and Q&A by Christopher Michael
Hair Teddy Charles @ Art & Commerce
Makeup Fulvia Farolfi @ Bryan Bantry
Stylist assistants: Mollie Maguire, Mel Eligon
Models:
Sigrid Agren @ Ford
Toni Garrn @ Women
Frida Gustavsson @IMG
Constance Jablonski @ Marilyn
Jac Jagaciak @ IMG
Liu Wen @ Marilyn
In response to the question of What’s Contemporary, you and Patrick chose to create these images together rather than run your separate perspectives of the same subject in a parallel contrast. How did you come to the decision to do it this way?
PD: We love to work together.
VD: I thought it would be fun to work together on this. We are both contemporary, and I wanted to show that, with the generation gap, we could still create images that appealed to both of us.
You were both very specific about the casting on this. What was it about these girls in particular that you held to be so contemporary and accurate as a response for this subject?
PD: I like them all. These are interesting girls we work with regularly.
VD: We wanted to shoot the sexiest and most beautiful girls around.
So many people feel the pressure to create new ideas with each and every passing year, yet you guys chose to create images of a timeless nature. Why?
PD: We don’t feel the pressure. We like to work in an instinctive way.
VD: I find most ideas for shoots terribly repetitive and vain. A beautiful girl shot in a beautiful light never gets old. Fashion is always changing, but I don’t think that our idea of beauty is changing as quickly. Fashion is always changing, but beauty is timeless.
How important is the role of the fashion in your pictures?
PD: We work in fashion, so, of course, the fashion is important, but the team you work with and everyone around you is equally important.
VD: Fashion is essential to our work. You cannot make a pretty picture with ugly fashion, but it’s the people who wear these clothes that make them especially interesting.
This is not the first project you have worked on together. Do you often get requested to work on projects together?
VD: Sometimes, but we prefer to work together on our own terms.
This timeless Demarchelier aesthetic is one that stands not only the test of time, but also equally challenges the common imagery of today the same way it has in years past. What do you think makes a photograph timeless?
PD: Style comes naturally. When I work, I don’t think about my style, just about the pictures I am taking.
VD: You cannot create a style. Your style, what you like, is who you are. I think the best quality a work of art can have is timelessness. I think there is an ease to our style — a natural, organic process that defines us.
Not to over-intellectualize or demystify these incredible images, but what lead to the choice of nudity for this series?
VD: We wanted the focus to be on our idea of beauty. Keeping the girls as natural as possible — minimal hair, makeup and styling was important to the process.
PD: I wanted to let the girls express themselves and not have the clothes take over.
Discussing the subject of contemporary, both as it is in culture, but more specifically to fashion, it seems that many are deferring back to wanting to create content of a timeless nature, in an effort to avoid the commonly used current aesthetic that will no doubt be recognizably of this time in years to come, and much more ‘throw away.’ In theory, this is great. However, not everyone is able to create this kind of image. From the point of view of photographers, what do you think about the direction and nature of fashion imagery most commonly created today?
PD: There is no “style” today. Everyone has a different style.
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October 5th, 2012
at 6:21 pm
CONSTANCE IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!
October 5th, 2012
at 10:34 pm
OMG Liu Wen and constance are gorgeous
October 6th, 2012
at 12:14 am
Phenomenal.
October 6th, 2012
at 1:03 am
So so pretty.
October 6th, 2012
at 2:16 am
sigrid looks the best here
October 6th, 2012
at 3:16 am
They are all ABSOLUTE GODESS! But true there is something raw and natural about Constance. I don’t know this girl she is more than a pretty face…. Watch out people!
October 6th, 2012
at 3:41 am
Constance, Liu and Toni are amazing! I love Patrick Demarchelier as a photographer, he’s my master and I always love to read him in interviews, I think he’s one of the greatest photographers of all time just at the same place as Avedon, Ritts or Beaton shall I say. The nude photos he has taken with Victor are effortless and so beautiful. They’ve shown women as we love them: elegant, gorgeous and au natural
)
October 6th, 2012
at 6:21 am
very boring! noting special!all girls looking poor and sad.
!!!PS!!!: There is noting Contemporary here!!! for sure!!!
October 6th, 2012
at 7:23 am
Oh my Gog. Sigrid, Jac and Constance are simply gorgeous, great job Patrick Demarcheiler :]
October 6th, 2012
at 8:31 am
JAC is phenomenal here!She gives so much character to the pictures esp.the smiling one!!!The whole project i so pure and natural!
October 6th, 2012
at 9:17 am
Jac is the one who stood out for me, simply beautiful and so raw (amazing body too!). As I was scrolling down Liu’s shot took my breath away. Constance is a natural beauty. tbh the only shots I dont really like are Frida’s… awkward in the first one, and nothing special in the second.
October 6th, 2012
at 9:57 am
THOSE FRENCHES ARE GREAT
October 6th, 2012
at 12:04 pm
Wow, these are so beautiful. I am just in love with every photo
October 6th, 2012
at 12:16 pm
YAWN
This is the opposite of contemporary
October 6th, 2012
at 3:26 pm
Our 2 french beauties Sigrid & Constance are stunning…but Jac is the most natural & so gorgeous here !
October 6th, 2012
at 3:38 pm
“they have successfully created the most epic moment ever created for an online platform…”
beautiful photos, but is the above a bit of an overstatement?
October 6th, 2012
at 9:23 pm
wow these are the ideal women and beauty nude
October 7th, 2012
at 9:38 am
But what’s the point. Why do they have to be topless…is that the only way These girls can ‘express themselves.’ this is the kind of nudity I don’t get, the shots aren’t even particularly special either.
October 7th, 2012
at 1:48 pm
Absolutely fantastic photos, grey scale, tonal contrast, lighting, wow!
October 7th, 2012
at 8:16 pm
Jac’s shots are the most interesting here. She is coy and sexy and very “real.”
Toni has a beautiful face but I feel as if she is very asexual in her expression and body.
October 8th, 2012
at 9:24 am
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to look over your photos. My favorite aspect of the b&w photography is the use of contrasting light and shadow against the subjects frame. My thought is that it is very classical, something seen primarily in european posters of the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. I do not know if you intended to have a majority of the subjects position their shoulders forward, if so, do you mind if I ask as to why?
October 8th, 2012
at 1:09 pm
ps its ridicule to see 18year old retouched to the nines forgetting that she isnt joan rivers… rip models.com
October 8th, 2012
at 3:52 pm
They all look great, in a delicately genuine yet very captivating and suggestive way. And as the shots show, timeless is the new contemporary after all.
PS btw these personally add another interesting chapter to the “B&W / nudity duo” book too, considerations from this point of view are imo many and all quite interesting…
October 9th, 2012
at 3:31 am
Toni and Jac!!
October 10th, 2012
at 1:49 am
What a natural beauty Sigrid is!
October 10th, 2012
at 2:53 am
@Oksav if you spent more time looking at photography than criticizing the things of which you know little about, you would be able to appreciate the refreshing experience of how very little these photographs are actually retouched. I think we have spent such a long time looking at heavy handed retouching, that we forgot what the difference looks like between good lighting and overly altered images. This would be the former.
October 10th, 2012
at 3:57 am
SIGRID looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so does liu wen!!!!
October 10th, 2012
at 9:55 am
Where are the black/mixed/indian models….hello 21st century you would think other race models are beautiful enough to be included…SAD SAD.
October 12th, 2012
at 3:22 am
oh
October 12th, 2012
at 6:06 pm
photoshop fail on sigrid’s arm/shoulder on 5th pic with toni
October 15th, 2012
at 6:42 am
woow so cute and so beautiful
October 15th, 2012
at 4:15 pm
And yet Joan Smalls is no where to be seen
October 17th, 2012
at 11:17 am
PURE!!
October 22nd, 2012
at 11:04 pm
Perfection! so beautiful, and with a hint of sophistication.
November 2nd, 2012
at 6:40 pm
JaC! NAKED!!!!
I knew the day would come oneday :’/
My baby is all grown up.
November 21st, 2012
at 6:04 am
Des photos pleine d’émotions !!! Bravo
March 1st, 2013
at 4:53 am
Constance，Sigrid and Liu Wen had appeared in the HM 2013 s/s ladies accessories campaign。They looks are so stunning！All photos on the HM’s website。And I think it’s not a lookbook or catalog。