At first, the pair thought they would capture styling assistants directly on set, with a fly on the wall approach, \u201cbut we quickly realised this would put the assistants in a difficult position,\u201d Lola says. \u201cA fashion shoot has a very clear hierarchy and it wouldn\u2019t have allowed them to be themselves.\u201d Instead, they set up some time for these portraits to unfold in a stripped back studio set up where people could come in as they are, unrehearsed and covered with all kinds of kit from their time on sets and shoots. The art direction for each shot was intentionally minimal, letting individual expression, outfits and smaller gestures piece together a story.<\/p>\n
Assistants was first and foremost about capturing a candid observation of the things these unsung figures do for the fashion world day-to-day, documenting the quiet craft involved in styling that\u2019s so often hidden behind the bravado of the final photoshoot. This comes through best in Lola\u2019s detailed close ups of shoe covers, clips on tool belts and lifts stacked with suitcases of clothes. \u201cFor both of us, but especially for Virginie, it\u2019s really about turning the focus to what\u2019s around you, what\u2019s really close,\u201d says Lola. \u201cWe\u2019re so used to running through every project, every shoot \u2013 it was pretty cathartic to give ourselves some time and space to observe and admire the people around us,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n
When compiling all of Lola\u2019s portraits into a book, the pair made made some deliberately minimal decisions around design. With a view of the photobook as more of a gallery than a design object, Virginie was keen for there not to be \u201cany graphic performance\u201d, so their approach to the form of the publication was simple and restrained, inspired by traditional Japanese books where \u201cclarity and quietness allow the images to speak for themselves\u201d, Virginie says.<\/p>\n
For the stylist, a key part of the process was thinking about how the sequencing of the book could create meaning through rhythm, \u201callowing images to echo, contrast, or slow the viewer down\u201d. Most importantly, Virginie and Lola wanted to give each portrait enough weight and space in the books pages: \u201cStylist\u2019s assistants embody so many different roles: you need to be creative, you need to be crafty, and you need to be a producer all at once,\u201d Lola ends. \u201cI have a lot of admiration for them, I\u2019m happy we got to show that in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first, the pair thought they would capture styling assistants directly on set, with a fly on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-514212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}