Collab ✕ Leda & St.Jacques
Collab ✕ Leda & St.Jacques
We celebrate the ugly in this homage to the 60s contemporary art movement Arte Povera. Photography by Leda & St.Jacques. Art direction and illustration by moi.
From the celebration of mundane objects to the dramatic composition of installations and images, I immediately fell in love with the Arte Povera movement as soon as photographer Leda Monteralli (of duo Leda & St.Jacques) introduced me to it. I connected the dots and realized that my favourite fashion show of all time — Alexander McQueen FW ‘09 — was also inspired by this movement, with a pile of trash on the runway as an art installation.
The set design of Alexander McQueen’s FW09 runway show “Horn of Plenty” also refered to the Italian art movement Arte Povera.
By combining Leda & St.Jacques’ contemporary lighting and composition, model Jenna Castilloux’s natural beauty, Leslie-Anne Thompson’s hair and makeup, and a few statues from my personal collection, we created our own take on Arte Povera.
The copy on the images is a wink to VOGUE Italia’s unique and playful typography: a raw, jaunty, careless, and almost clumsy approach that creates a modern clash with avant-garde editorial.
VOGUE Italia’s design signature was an inspiration for the typeface of this series.
The tension between two extreme subjects — like sophisticated/cheap and ugly/beautiful — is what moves the needle in art, fashion, and beauty. What is weird today is cool tomorrow, and what is cool now will be boring soon.
The Making of Arte Povera with makeup artist Leslie-Ann Thompson and Montréal-based model Jenna Jenner.
TEAM:
Jenna / Montage Models (Model), Leda St.Jacques (Photography), Nadia Fancelli (Production), Leslie-Ann Thompson (Makeup), Sarah Bruneau (Styling)
