John Galliano and Paolo Roversi Talk Brassaï, ‘Muses’ and a Big Shoot

Capturing fashions by John Galliano with the designer present is akin to a pianist playing a Mozart concerto with Wolfgang Amadeus himself turning the pages of the score.

That’s how photographer Paolo Roversi described a recent shoot for Luncheon magazine of the Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 collection, one of the most acclaimed fashion efforts in years.

There was sharp humor, and dollops of hyperbole, as the two men discussed the shoot onstage at Dover Street Market Paris on Tuesday night, as images of Monica Bellucci, Gwendoline Christie and model Leon Dame in his birthday suit flashed on a giant screen behind them.

“Almost religious, definitely spiritual — an epiphany,” is how Galliano described watching Roversi in action, he and multiple assistants carefully positioning torches to create ethereal, haunting images.

The shoot took place on June 25 and 26 at Maison Margiela headquarters in Paris, with a crew numbering almost 100 people.

“There’s a kind of choreography that goes on,” the designer marveled. “I’ve been a sitter for Paolo and I still can’t work out what the f— is going on!

“His eye is searching the soul, for the truth of the ensemble that the muse is wearing,” Galliano continued. “He starts to reveal things that perhaps you have never even noticed — and that’s the magic.”

Roversi returned the compliments in spades, prompting a round of knowing chuckles.

“I really enjoyed to be there with you and your poetry… I couldn’t take these pictures alone myself. It was very important your presence,” the Italian photographer related. “You talk about religion. Well, you are god and you know, I am just a priest.”

One of the chief challenges for Roversi was the fact that all sitters for the shoot wore the “glass skin” makeup of Pat McGrath, which went viral on social media after the January show, but which is fragile, sticky and nearly glues mouths shut.

“I always try, when I have a muse in front of me, to exchange some words with them and to try to make it comfortable. And you always said, ‘She can’t talk,’” he said, staring right at Galliano, a smile breaking on his face. “I wanted to try to say something funny. And you told me, ‘She can’t laugh.’”

Still, Roversi managed to forge strong connections with the models, including beauty editor Tish Weinstock, who ended up on the cover of Luncheon’s Issue 18.

“Kindred spirits — this magic happened that just blew me away,” Galliano marveled of the mind meld between Roversi and Weinstock, who had never worked together. “I gave them 10 out of 10, and then I thought, ‘But what are we gonna do after this?’”

Luncheon editor in chief Frances Armstrong Jones, who moderated the 30-minute talk, asked the two men about the role of models, or “muses,” the term Galliano prefers.

They are “almost like my family,” Galliano said. “They become a part of the creative process. I can’t do it without them. I rely on them.”

For example, to create one part of the Artisanal collection based on “gestural cutting,” he tasked his muses to don thrift-shop clothes and act if they were feeling “really cold” or shielding themselves from “an unwanted voyeuristic stare.”

They were filmed and photographed, and Galliano interpreted various movements into new clothing patterns, so a lapel could cover the face, or a trouser leg came already hoicked up in anticipation of a puddle.

“For me, a muse is somebody who opens a door, lets me enter a new space,” Roversi said. “It’s not just a girl smiling or making a nice pose in front of my lens. It’s really an artist, a real muse that inspires me for my work.”

Since the hit Artisanal collection has been so widely documented — in magazine editorials, exhibitions and a gripping documentary that premiered on Sept. 30 during Paris Fashion Week — Galliano produced some new versions of about half a dozen looks. Some were executed in pale colors; others in calico fabrics etched with tailoring markings and instructions.

“I wanted Paulo to have something that hadn’t been shot before,” he said.

Galliano also layered dry-cleaning plastic over a white foam version of the show’s look 18, which had Roversi in raptures witnessing the couturier mold it around the bulbous skirt in front of his eyes.

“Paolo brings out the punk in me,” Galliano exclaimed.

For his part, Roversi marveled at the intricacy of the Artisanal collection.

“I discovered so many beautiful details in the clothes… different fabrics, different textures — incredible,” he said. “It looks easy and simple, but it’s such rich and amazing work.”

The designer also dispatched to Roversi boxes of inspiration material, including research books on Brassaï, a key inspiration for the collection, and vintage dolls, including one with its own wicker wheelchair that Galliano calls “Auntie.”

“She was very happy in the studio, very happy in front of my camera,” Roversi joked. “She was very quiet, very gentle, and you know she fell asleep immediately.”

“She looks like she’s lived a very good life,” the designer agreed as he gazed up wistfully at Roversi’s photo of the slumped figure, wearing a long necklace and a romantic floral hat. “I’m obsessed with dolls as you probably worked out… Auntie travels everywhere with me.”

Both men admire and collect Brassaï photographs, and spoke at length of their admiration.

Roversi called the Hungarian–French auteur a “pure photographer” whose studio was “the darkness and fog of Paris,” and whose long exposure times were sometimes equivalent to the duration of smoking a Gauloises, which he adored.

After photographing Paris at night and the colorful characters of its underbelly, he would return to his hotel room in Montmartre and develop the images in a makeshift darkroom he curtained off in a corner.

For his part, Galliano said Brassaï’s moonlit scenes and characters were a “big inspiration,” full of intrigue and pathos. “It’s just fascinating when you look at those pictures… the story, the narrative, you’re drawn in and you feel a part of it, and it’s a place where you can dream.”