For his spread in Interview magazine’s current issue, photographer Mikael Jansson arrived at Paris Fashion Week ready to shoot. But he was there to photograph the inhabitants of the front rows—not the models. He captured designers, stylists, and editors as the public has never seen them before: in front of the lens. Fashion insiders like Daphne Guinness and L’Wren Scott became icons this year and now they’ve finally gotten their due. “Now people really look at what editors are wearing, and think about their personal style,” explained Interview’s Fashion Market Director Karla Martinez. She explained that the point of the shoot was to “celebrate the shows and the people who are there season after season. You’ve seen them, but you don’t know much about them.” Each subject chose a look from a current collection to wear in their shoot. On October 4, the team found LOVE magazine Editor in Chief Katie Grand backstage styling the Louis Vuitton show. She donned one of the collection’s signature wigs and took a spin between the clothing racks.
Mikael Jansson / Courtesy of Interview
It’s been a fast-paced year for fashion: Alexander McQueen’s show in Paris was live-streamed online, and bloggers followed editors so closely readers feel right in the town car with them. As a result, the eager public is more familiar with new faces, like that of Charlotte Stockdale, a consultant and stylist, pictured here with her husband and daughter in their Parisian home. Stockdale told Interview about the state of the fashion industry: “Where did individuality go? Where is the experimentation? Where are the new Viviennes, the Pam Hoggs?”
Mikael Jansson / Courtesy of Interview
“Daphne Guinness was one of the best fashion experiences I’ve ever had,” Karla Martinez says of styling Daphne Guinness for the shoot. “When we arrived [in her room at the Hotel Ritz], her own personal clothes were lined up in the room, with jewelry in different drawers. She gravitated to the Givenchy jacket that we had pulled…. The most important thing for us was for them to feel comfortable in what we pulled, and for it to really reflect their personal style.”
Mikael Jansson / Courtesy of Interview
Sittings Editor Karl Templer chose a cascading Valentino gown for Dasha Zhukova’s shoot at the Hotel Ritz. It may seem intimidating to style stylists, direct editors, and put masterminds in front of the lens, but Karla Martinez insists each subject was remarkably natural. “They came really well prepared,” she said. “We shot three to four people per day. Everyone was so accommodating.” “Karl really wanted to take pictures and include people that really helped shaped the fashion industry,” Martinez explains. “People that in the past had been behind the scenes—but now, people really look at them for style and inspiration. That’s really what we wanted to capture—the people that influence fashion, the tastemakers.”
Mikael Jansson / Courtesy of Interview
Jansson caught Lauren Santo Domingo stepping out of a car on the Rue Saint-Dominique in Paris. “Many shows present looks that one wants to wear straightaway,” Santo Domingo told Interview. “But the best shows, for me, are the ones that are so advanced that they challenge you. Maybe you don’t understand at first, but fast-forward six months and it all makes sense.”
Mikael Jansson / Courtesy of Interview
