Hva skjer når en gresk minimalist møter en Vogue-fotograf og søt musikk oppstår? Jo, vakre svart-hvitt-bilder i vill natur – inspirert av en sci-fi-roman og en legendarisk skandinavisk supermodell.

Fotograf, moteredaktør og kurator Omi oppdaget Irini Andrikopoulos’ merke Lefkon da han satt som dommer i en designkonkurranse der den greske klesdesigneren deltok og vant.

Omi ble grepet av designerens ekstremt minimalistiske plagg, og hennes drøm om å gjøre en moteserie i svart-hvitt som understreket plaggenes enkle linjer i samspill med vill og vakker natur.

Omi lot ideen modnes, og et møte med en tidligere dansk supermodell forløste ideen. Noen måneder senere traff Omi tilfeldigvis den danske modellen Helena Christensen på et event og han kom til å tenke på en popvideo som hadde gjort enormt inntrykk på han i tenårene:  Chris Isaacs legendariske video for «Wicked Game» – med nettopp Helena Christensen og Christ Isaac i het omfavnelse på stranden.

Og det var da han fikk ideen: han ville fotografere Andrikopoulos’ plagg på stranden som en hyllest til ungdommelige fantasier om bølgeskvulp, hete omfavnelser og en vakker skandinavisk supermodell.

To uker senere fikk ideen en mer bisarr vri, da Omi Richard Linklaters filmatisering av Phillip K. Dicks dystopiske science fiction-roman «Scanner Darkly». Omi ble nærmest blåst av banen av den mørke estetikken i filmen, så fotoshooten for Lefkon bærer også preg av det. Resultatet kan du se i disse bildene, inspirert av gresk minimalisme, en gammel popvideo og en dystopisk roman, men med et narrativ og en historie som er helt og holdent designerens og fotografens.

The Team :
Designer: Lefkon – Foto: Omi – Makeup: Sofia Andriopoulou – Hår: Olga Papaioannou of the Parlour – Modell: Sofia Kasynyuk – Tekst: Selena Cruz

 

To our english readers:

Greek minimalist revival

A Greek minimalist designer meets a Vogue photographer on the beach – what do you get? Yes a shoot inspired by a dystopian sci-fi novel and a Scandinavian supermodel.

Lefkon’s creative director Irini Andrikopoulos had a singular vision for her primary collection…to shoot  in black and white with the duality of saturated black and expansive white firmly clashing against the backdrop of whatever nature throws at you. This specific idea was borne out of years of perfecting her work, through many a fashion week from Athens to Paris, and through acknowledgments along the way from Best New Designer to Best Designer awards.

But this specific idea remained sort of a holy grail for her. That is until she ran into Vogue photographer, Smithsonian Artist, Fashion Editor Omi during the fashion week, where he was part of the jury that evaluated her work. Irini’s vision finally found a vehicle. But Omi felt that the narrative required more work, more deconstruction, more inspiration to be shot in that sort of abandon. So while the idea remained suspended within the realm of possibilities, it was waiting for proper execution.

A few months later, Omi ran into Helena Christensen at an event and her striking looks reminded him of a music video from his adolescence. Sitting in a hotel lobby in Shanghai, Omi did some digging and realized that it was the same woman who did the Chris Isaac video of “Wicked Games” many moons ago. And from that one part of this narrative was born… to be shot in black and white, with the open roaring sea, while noir drips through the lines of symmetry as a precursor to a summer firmly entrenched in adolescent memories of a Scandinavian supermodel on a beach.

Two weeks later that idea took a more constructive and maybe a bit bizarre turn as Omi started reading Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick. While in the middle of the novel, he sought out the movie and was immediately mesmerized by Richard Linklater’s vision and decided to incorporate that sort of imposed aesthetics to a fashion shoot.

Lefkon’s creative team loved the idea and frankly did not care how it came to pass. Shot with the natural backdrop of a rowdy sea and equally imposing mountains Lefkon’s fashion story became an homage to two very different strands of aesthetics.

This is where Helena Christensen’s “Wicked Games” meets Phillip K Dick in the world that Richard Linklater built. But the foundation is never the building. The aesthetics are entirely Omi’s own, the clothes are the protagonist and this story remains a rather unique one that is shot with beautiful abandon. Beauty bizarre beauty.

The Team :
Designer: Lefkon – Photographer: Omi – Makeup: Sofia Andriopoulou – Hair: Olga Papaioannou of the Parlour – Model: Sofia Kasynyuk – Editorial Note: Selena Cruz