HEDI SLIMANE'S ROCK PHOTOGRAPHS
There are few fashion luminaries whose legacies cast quite as long as a shadow as Yves Saint Laurent’s, which makes it all the more impressive that Hedi Slimane has, in the just two short years as Saint Laurent’s new creative director, managed to leave such a strong mark of his own. He notches another historic milestone this fall, when he becomes the first designer to exhibit at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent in Paris with a show of his iconic black-and-white studio portraits of musicians produced over the past fifteen years. Slimane, who now works out of his Los Angeles studio rather than the house’s Parisian headquarters, has always had a driving passion for rock-and-roll, especially the vibrant scenes of London and Southern California, are documented in his richly introspective images, which capture both young upstarts and luminaries such as Keith Richards, Amy Winehouse, and Lou Reed, who adorns the poster with an expression both timeworn and timeless. An accompanying video installation, which contrasts Slimane’s British work from 2004 to 2007 with his time on the West Coast since, will bridge the divide between generations, much as the designer does himself in his day job.
“Sonic” opens tomorrow and runs through January 11, 2015, at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, 5, avenue Marceau, Paris.
Jonathan Shia is the editor of The Last Magazine.