Menswear Backstage

In the summer of 2002, I was sleeping on a friend’s sofa in the center of Paris. I went there in late 2001 in a sort of life-is-too-short-to-not-be-where-you-want-to-be move. My friend was a photo editor at a now-defunct fashion magazine and he knew I needed something to fill my days. He also knew that I was known to take photos from time to time. “You should cover the men’s fashion shows,” he said one morning over coffee.

I was a bit taken aback. I had no contacts or experience in the industry, no credentials, and not even the slightest notion of how to do such a thing. My friend explained that menswear might be a little easier to break in to (in those days, less attention was paid). There would not be much competition, he explained, and there was a newly emerging market for candid backstage images from the shows. These, it seemed, were much more interesting to the print magazines and emerging blogs than the standard, staid runway shots.

So I prepared a request for credentials and sent it to 30-odd designers. I received precisely two invitations.

I have no background in fashion and had no idea what to shoot once I arrived backstage. So I followed my instinct and shot what seemed interesting. In the end, I was happy with the results and hooked on the experience. Based on the images from those two shows, I found a magazine to obtain credentials on my behalf, and by the next season I was covering a few dozen shows in both Paris and Milan.

Because I am an outsider to the industry, I have tried to make images that dwell as much on the personalities and activities backstage as on the clothes themselves. Rather than providing a reportage on fashion trends, I turned my focus to the boys and the way they pass the time before and during the shows, capturing both their energy and ennui.