Jil Sander
Spring / Summer 1996 catalogue and ad campaigns.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Craig McDean
MODEL: Guinevere van Seenus
HAIR: Eugene Souleiman
MAKEUP: Pat McGrath
LAYOUT / ART DIRECTION: Marc Ascoli
Simple, personal, different.
I love this photo shoot. Before I went and looked for information about the creative process of this project, I knew it was special. These pictures have an everlasting intrigue. The work between photographer and subject escalates these photos into another dimension - I can hear/feel the conversation between the creative team when I look at this campaign.
Photographer Nick Knight has produced an interesting series of films for SHOWstudio called Subjective, which highlight model's perspectives on iconic photo shoots. I'm so thankful for this interview he did with van Seenus. In it, Guinevere talks about what made this photo shoot so unique and how the industry has changed since that time. She provides fascinating insights into Craig McDean's methods, artistic collaboration and shares her personal experience of inclusion as a member of the creative team on this project. I am grateful for productions like these that talk about creative processes and mention the people who have contributed to a project.
Nick Knight has also produced a series called Transformative, similarly highlighting the work of stylists, make-up artists and hairdressers. In this video, he interviews hairdresser Eugene Souleiman about his work on this shoot:
Makeup artist Pat Mcgrath's work here is so fresh and interesting. Taking down Guinevere's eyebrows a bit with bleach tips the scales towards Botticelli. Her treatment of the face and skin is not immediately evident, yet, her traces of shimmer, hollows and glossy creases show you that something special has happened.
Marc Ascoli's project vision and layouts are totally compelling. I wish I could find photos of the entire catalogue. He has arranged and cropped everything in such an interesting way - adding a stuck-and-torn-apart-page effect to the outer bottom corners of each picture along with an occasional collage of images. You can catch a flip-through of the catalogue in the video posted below (an excerpt from Souleiman's interview starting at the 5 minute mark):
 |
| Published in 2013 by Rizzoli, New York. (via) |
Lastly, an excerpt from the book Amber, Guinevere, and Kate Photographed by Craig McDean: 1993-2005 in which Guinevere van Seenus is interviewed by Glenn O'Brien on March 1st, 2013:
GO: Tell me about your first meeting with Craig?
GvS: I remember my first job with him—a Japanese or Korean editorial—and it went really well. I remember really understanding what he was doing. It was different for me because I hadn't worked with people yet that were doing something different and unique.
...
GO: Was there anything about the way the way that Craig worked or in his manner that seemed different to you?
GvS: I'm not sure I'll be able to clearly explain it, but for me he brings his own quirks and individuality into it. It helps you explore or be comfortable with these parts of yourself that most people think are a little awkward or weird. They become beautiful in his pictures. He carries that through with his body—he shows you positions or he does things to help it make a lot of sense. You jump right in with it, and then you work together to bring it further, to develop it from there. Most people, they wouldn't ask you for those types of awkward in-between moments or expressions. And if you gave them to them, they wouldn't really understand what you were doing.
GO: And when you saw the pictures what did you think of them?
GvS: I loved them. I didn't really get to see the pictures of that first job we did. I was probably too shy at the time to ask. But later with Jil Sander, it was very much like we were there together for four days. I think we totaled about fifteen hours of overtime. We would work until two in the morning. It became like a fun family thing and we were just exploring, so I really got to see everything. And the more he liked something, like a weird expression I might have done as a child, the more I just pushed and explored more.
GO: You said that Craig would act something out, or strike a position. Is that unusual?
GvS: Yes. Some people do it slightly. Some people just ask verbally for something and then they let you have your own interpretation. But the way Craig starts it, you really get an interpretation of the energy he wants behind it. Some people don't really even know how to ask for what they want. Craig makes it really clear. We would explore for hours and hours every day. I don't think I've ever had another experience quite like that.
...
GO: Did it seem more collaborative in nature than the usual modeling job?
GvS: Very, very much so.
GO: So when you look at those pictures do you think: I came up with that?
GvS: Sometimes you come up with something from feedback someone gives, but it's also the entire energy in the room. How comfortable do I feel around these people? How vulnerable do I feel like being? Do I trust them with the parts of myself that I don't necessarily think are beautiful? Having Eugene Souleiman, Pat McGrath and Marc Ascoli—that was the team you could just do anything with.
