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David LaChapelle
Few photographers have captured fashion and celebrity with as much airbrushed excess as David LaChapelle. His over-the-top portraits—spanning Pamela Anderson, Amanda Lepore and Madonna to Alexander McQueen, Isabella Blow and Elton John—are icons of 1980s and ‘90s decadence. So when we met up with the American photographer in Beijing, where he was preparing for an exhibition of his work at the Today Art Museum (June 2010), we expected someone a bit flashy and, well, frivolous. Instead, we got deferential and, well, down-to-earth. Maui, to be exact...
Nowadays, you’re focusing less on magazine and commercial work and more on museum and gallery shows. So you’re an artist now?
I’m just a photographer. I started in galleries, spent 20 years working in magazines and then came back to galleries. So it’s like coming full circle. For me, that 20-year period in magazines was really to grow up and mature and also to learn how to communicate. I wasn’t ready, in 1984, when I was first showing in galleries. As a kid, I didn’t have enough to say.
What do you think of other fashion types, like Karl Lagerfeld and Hedi Slimane, who’ve taken up photography and dabbled in fine art?
Is that what they’re doing? [Laughs.] I didn’t know. I knew they were taking pictures. You know, that’s why I like to just say I’m a photographer, because I like the idea of being a craftsperson, of having a trade. I’d rather be simple than, you know, get into what could be misconstrued as pretentious.
You know how your work has been described: satirical, shocking, etc. But how would you define it?
For me, it’s content-driven, you know? It’s always been about content. There was always a subtext that I was playing with, this other narrative. It was never just about the face value, even if it was just making a joke or a statement or something. That’s why the older photographs are holding up, why they’re being looked at as sort of documenting 15 years of America’s obsessions, compulsions, the age of decadence we were living in.
You recently moved from Los Angeles and New York to Maui, and I hear you’re now “anti-capitalist and anti-commodity.”
No, I’m not anti anything. I just feel that when everything becomes about consuming, when the promise is that happiness is going to come with your next purchase, then you’re in a decadent society. And after decadence, we all know what happens: the fall. That’s what happened in Rome.
So you’ve been more like Nero playing the violin, a passive observer more than an active participant?
Well, I was definitely participating. You know, for me there is just nothing more beautiful than humanity and adornment. I love all those things, the make-up and beautiful women and glamour, the beautiful men and bodies and sensuality and romanticism. But I’d always make fun of it—you know, the girl snorting diamonds [as in a 1997 image of Amanda Lepore]. That was the paradox. I was working for these magazines, selling clothing and selling celebrity, and yet I was also commenting on this religious obsession with consuming, this illusion.
And now you’ve left all that for Maui. You have an eco-compound there, right?
Well, it was that way when I bought it. It was a nudist colony and it was off the grid because the area is so remote. So I just upgraded the solar and biodiesel, planted bigger gardens and more fruit trees. It’s more sustainable because we grow all our own food: goats for milk, bees for honey, lots of fruits and vegetables.
Goats?
Yeah. I live very simply. I’ve always been that way. People think I live in like fun fur. Shit, I don’t know what they think. I always get brought to like a Philippe Starck hotel for lunch, whatever city I go to. Never fails. But that’s understandable, I guess.
Does it piss you off when people confuse you with Dave Chappelle?
[Laughs.] Once I was on the Today Show and Matt Lauer came in and was like, Where’s Dave Chappelle? And when I moved to Hawaii, I live in a very small town, and everyone was waiting for this black comedian to show up. So yeah, it happens.
This is your first time in China. Impressions?
I feel like I’m back in time, in New York like six years ago: cranes everywhere, buildings being built everywhere and everyone just super optimistic and buying things and happy and really into fashion. It’s like Sex and the City. It’s sort of nostalgic.
Riccardo Tisci
Givenchy designer Riccard Tisci is so Italian. Tall, dark and an aficionado of everything from music to art, he also talks a kilometer a minute. I was reminded of this when he dropped in on a Givenchy trunk show today at Barneys New York, just off a plane from Rio de Janeiro, where he, Donatella Versace, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa were the guests of honor at Oi Fashion Rocks. Wearing the New York uniform of scuffed sneakers and a black tee, within minutes he had covered rave-hopping in Rio, trouble in paradise, his first fragrance and moving to New York—and being young enough to do it all over again. My little iPhone Recorder app could barely keep up.
Lee Carter: Was it your first time in Rio?
Riccardo Tisci: It was my first time for work, but I've been there many times for holiday. I love America Latina. It was so nice, and I'll be honest, I was shocked by how big Givenchy is there. I was really impressed.
Isn't it big everywhere, darling cakes?
It's bigger in Rio. I knew it was big because of magazines, but I was so surprised by the big welcome. It was me, Donatella, Francisco. It was a beautiful week.
Rio is also great for getting into trouble.
Oh, compleeeeeetely! (Laughs.)
I take it that's what happened?
Well, you know I have a lot of friends there. I was very good for the first few days. I got some rest, then I did my show, and then...
And then?
I wouldn't say I got into trouble, but I did enjoy myself. I really love music so we went to this...not a favela, but a big warehouse where it was all about the music, not clothes. It was real life.
Like a rave?
Yes, that's exactly what it was. I met up with some friends. The music was beyond and the people were so happy to be alive.
The people in Brazil are the stuff of legend. So beautiful.
Beautiful and nice. That's what I love. It's about freedom and happiness.
And I bet Givenchy looks fantastic on those bodies.
Yeah, and the Brazilian models. You know I discovered a lot of Brazilian models. I put them in my shows. Ninety percent of the girls are Brazilian. It was amazing to see all these girls in the clubs wearing Givenchy.
Jacky Ido
Along with unrelenting violence, pop cultural verve and witty, campy dialogue, Quentin Tarantino's films are eagerly awaited for their eclectic casts, which either reignite defunct careers or nurture new talents. Falling in the latter camp comes Jacky Ido, who plays a black projectionist on the Allied side in Tarantino's audacious World War II film Inglourious Basterds. Yet the 32-year-old French actor from Burkina Faso, West Africa, has already earned a modest following in Europe, thanks to his work as a director and slam poet, not to mention his well-chiseled figure, his beaming smile and a new wardrobe from Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci. We caught up with the film buff—seriously, very buff—to talk about his varied interests.
Stéphane Gaboué: You came into the spotlight this summer for your supporting role in Inglourious Basterds, but you've already earned a small following in Europe as a poet and director. You're quite the Renaissance Man. How do you introduce yourself?
Jacky Ido: I've been doing my thing for quite a while now, but it's really Inglourious Basterds that brought a new focus on my career. I'm very grateful to Tarantino for putting me on the map, though I do want to carry on making films with my personal take and bring out my vision in projects.
Inglourious Basterds opened to mixed reviews. What do you make of that? And what did you think about the movie itself? You can be honest, we won't tell Quentin.
I loved it. Quentin promised a masterpiece and frankly he delivered. The film has so many layers to it that it takes time to acknowledge all of them. It is funny, witty and it shows balls that filmmakers seldom have these days. It's rare to watch a movie that can entertain us and at the same time convey a strong vision of the world and its difficult issues. Quentin has a position that no other artist has. The movie went number one at the box office worldwide, so the audience must think I'm right.
Anne Fontaine
The French director speaks to Hint about the making of Coco Before Chanel (opening Sept. 25), starring Audrey Tautou as the larger-than-life, sometimes contradictory, but always self-made icon in her impressionable early years.
Lee Carter: It seems to me, to make a film about Chanel's life, you must have had a very unique interest in her...
Anne Fontaine: Yes, when I was young I was fortunate enough to meet Lilou Marquand, Chanel's last assistant and author of the book Chanel Told Me. She became a friend of mine and everyday I would hear something new about this mythical personality. But I never thought I would end up making a film about her.
How did the idea for the film come about?
I was approached by the producers three years ago. I accepted the task because I felt I knew her so well. I knew how courageous and brave she was without any education, artistic or intellectual. She discovered her own style and offered a new way to be a woman. She didn't like to sew, because she was taught it as an orphan in a convent, and never thought she would become famous for it.
Why did you choose to cover only the early years?
You can't make a great movie shoving 87 years into two hours. I didn't want to make a biopic. I wanted to keep some things mysterious, but reveal other things. Most people don't know she was a courtesan, a singer and a dancer.
Any surprises during your research?
Everything was very surprising because she lied a lot. She felt the need to. She had incredible energy, but underneath was a vulnerability. Because of this, many people who worked with her said she was horrible at the end of her life, fighting against tragedy, fragility and loneliness until the very end. She was very complex and can't be simplified with a biopic.
Has Karl Lagerfeld seen the film?
I don't know. I doubt it since he's not in the movie. He's had nice things to say about it though.
Will you be making any more fashion films?
I'm not into fashion so much. The emotion of a fashion show disappears in a second. As Chanel herself often said: "Only style remains." I'm more interested in personalities. Coco was the first modern woman, perhaps its first feminist. For me this is fascinating.
Jonny Johansson
Not long ago Acne was a relatively unknown skinny jeans company from Sweden. Now with sixteen stores internationally, phenomenal collaborations with Lanvin and jeweler Michael Zobel, and an exceptional collection for fall '09, the skinnies have grown into the brand that everyone is obsessed with. We caught up with founder Jonny Johansson as he vacationed with his family in Stockholm. —Kay Barron
The last year has been great for Acne. The recession has been good to you!
The recession has been good in the sense that it means I can focus on what I really like and almost "clean up" what I do. When I was in London a year ago I met an American guy who was recently bankrupt. He didn’t have any money so I took him for a drink and bought him some food. He was a vintage collector and a writer, but he is a musician, too, and told me that even though his business is on its knees, he has never felt so creative. I think that’s inspiring. For me fashion had become too narrow. Everything had to be so fucking luxurious, and the whole creative and expressive part disappeared.
BeBe Zahara Benet
Like so many before her, BeBe Zahara Benet high-tailed from her native Cameroon in West Africa to Paris, where she quickly developed a flair for the haute art of feminine illusion. Today, BeBe is best-known for her role on RuPaul's reality show Drag Race. Her lip-synching, show-stopping, side-splitting performances clinched the competition, while endearing her to viewers and leaving more than a few well-contoured pouts agape. In New York to attend a fundraiser for an upcoming documentary on her life, BeBe sat down with Hint to discuss everything from tucking to keeping it real. —Sarah Fones
Tell me about the documentary and working with [director] Emily Branham.
We had such chemistry. To me it's an honor to find someone who wants to tell my story. And it's not only about what I do for a living or why I do it. It's about empowering people. We all go through our battles.
Stefano Pilati
In their own selfish way, fashion victims help the world go 'round. But no one wants to see the end result of hoarding, not even the creative engine behind one of the world's great luxury brands, Yves Saint Laurent. So last night at Barneys New York, with a little encouragement from Julie Gilhart, Stefano Pilati launched New Vintage, an eco-friendly capsule collection made from unused fabrics left over from previous YSL collections, with an emphasis on wearability and affordability. Naturally all fifty limited-edition, numbered pieces sold out within minutes, including a Downtown bag in remnant khaki that Julie craftily scooped up ahead of time. But I also managed a little selfish hoarding of Stefano. —Lee Carter
Did you just fly in?
No, no, no. I got here a few day ago.
Have you been working nonstop or do you take breaks to romp around the city?
I know I look tan, like I've spent the afternoon in my garden, but actually I've been working nonstop. Normally the summer is more relaxed, but this one, no way. I didn't stop one day. After this I have the cruise show, then men's, then I start to work on women's.
Christopher Bailey
Given his fantastically glamourous job as Burberry's creative director, you might think Christopher Bailey is the type to have glitzy million-dollar condos stretching from Rio to Goa and keep a staff of well-pressed butlers, chauffeurs and vase-dusters. But no. The real Christopher Bailey, with his tousled red hair and generous smile, is a Bob-Dylan-listening, sloppy-sofa-relaxing country boy, as he told me just hours before hosting the star-studded christening of the new Burberry headquarters in New York. Which, apparently, is just part of the job. —Lee Carter
The Burberry tartan is one of the most famous trademarks in the world. What are your own trademarks, passions and fetishes?
One of my biggest things is that I love the countryside. People don't usually associate that with a fashion designer, but it's something that's really important or me. I was brought up in the countryside. I love gardening and spending time in agricultural surrounding
How very British of you. You're almost as British as Madonna. Do you have horses, too?
I do have horses in my field. That probably makes me a big fat cliché.
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