Do I like fashion?

October 2015, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Invited to shoot pictures on the backstage of a fashion show by Francesca Camugli, John Galliano's Director of Collection at that time, I explained that I'm not a fashion photographer at all and that I use a 4x5 inch camera: an instrument which is the opposite of what is needed to take good fashion pictures.

But very quickly I've been intrigued by the desire of doing with my tool something completely different from what I'm use to do. I took a couple of flashes with me and a stock of chassis charged with color film, kept by my friend Sara, kindly keen to be my assistant for one afternoon.

These pictures are the result of a very intense experience for me: small spaces filled with hundreds of kilograms of human flesh, people smiling and the girls changing their clothes dozens of times in less than what I need to choose my frame. No: I'm not a fashion photographer. But the experience was worth it.

This project is dedicated to my high school Professor Antonella Agostinis. One day she read us a poem by Constantinos Kavafis, the one down here. And I'm still grateful for that.



As much as you can

And if you can’t shape your life the way you want,
at least try as much as you can
not to degrade it
by too much contact with the world,
by too much activity and talk.

Try not to degrade it by dragging it along,
taking it around and exposing it so often
to the daily silliness
of social events and parties,
until it comes to seem a boring hanger-on.