PAUL CAVACO

Portrait by Ben Hassett for Models.com

#IndustryNow The cycles of social media impel us to embrace then move on from trends and discourses faster than ever before. The life span of a single work––an editorial, a campaign, a show, a stint––is shorter for it. Fashion’s only unconditional term is the future: operating a year ahead, after all. So, in an industry where change and relevancy are the full stops at the end of every sentence, Models.com wanted to highlight individuals who add permanence to the community–some at their start and some at their top. Photographer Ben Hassett gets up close and personal for Models.com with the creative forces often behind the scenes. They are the Industry, Now.

To be witness to the moments that stylist Paul Cavaco has been part of would be a crash course in the immortalized images of fashion history. The memorable Sex Book shot by Steven Meisel and Fabien Baron with Madonna. Linda Evangelista flying through NYC captured by the late great Peter Lindbergh. Franca Sozzani’s last commissioned issue for Vogue Italia. Ever the chameleon, Cavaco has maintained a storied career in fashion for more than 4 decades. A former editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Allure and founding member of the mega-PR firm, KCD, there’s not a top model that Cavaco hasn’t clothed in his signature, time-honored style that lasts the eras.

Can commercial work be personal? What is your opinion on it?
I mean we are in fashion. We are in the business of fashion pictures. We are in the commercial world. If you look at Tonne Goodman’s work, she has a new book out and the book is wonderful. We work in a commercial venue but I don’t know how it could not be personal. I think the way that a stylist rolls his sleeve or what shoe you choose is personal. To do a really good picture you have to find something that you identify with that touches you. That somehow you understand. So then it becomes personal. There are times we do work that doesn’t look like it, looks very sort of austere and structured, but that’s personal too.

Is making beautiful things enough?
The premise overall that you have to remember is it’s commercial work and what we are doing is selling clothes. That is our job. Like the Vogue woman is a very specific woman. The Bazaar woman is similar to Kip Ridge [New Jersey]. You choose which one you are, you know. Glamour was a very specific woman. Each group has certain aspirations, but make no mistake, the mission of the magazine is to sell clothing.

What we are charged with is how do you present these things in a beautiful way, whatever that means. But, beautiful is so vast and you have to filter through that and make it understandable and beautiful. It’s always about beautiful. I don’t think it could be beautiful and not have a purpose. I think then we are talking about art. It’s beautiful, but I think art has a purpose too.

What’s your favorite part of that process?
I like all of it, kind of. Ultimately I’m happy on set but in order to be happy on set, you have got to be prepared. So, I do like when someone has an idea, whoever it might be, the photographer, the magazine, the editor, the stylist, whoever has the idea and it kind of triggers ideas for all of us. I love choosing the clothes and when they come in and you see how they all look, or not look, and you have to work with them. When you finally get them right and get past this moment of idea frustration, for me, and then like, “Oh, okay! This is working.” When you get on set, and it goes through a thousand other filters because it should never exactly be how you picture it because there are a bunch of people collaborating.