Alongside Juergen Teller, Melanie Ward and Corinne Day, Venetia Scott has helped to shift fashion into a new epoch at the dawn of the 90s, away from the power-shouldered pomp and excess of the 80s. Her philosophy of letting personality shine remains central to her imagery today, stripping styling down to a wardrobe free of […]
Venetia Scott and Serge Cajfinger for Paule Ka
Alongside Juergen Teller, Melanie Ward and Corinne Day, Venetia Scott has helped to shift fashion into a new epoch at the dawn of the 90s, away from the power-shouldered pomp and excess of the 80s. Her philosophy of letting personality shine remains central to her imagery today, stripping styling down to a wardrobe free of theatrical tricks, which from the mid 00s, she has carried out in tandem as a photographer. For the past four seasons, Scott has photographed imagery for French label Paule Ka, helmed by founder/creative director Serge Cajfinger. Below is their conversation about the process for these campaign images.
Serge Cajfinger: Travel has been the theme for the last few seasons’ imagery. This time I was looking for a mythic airport that would fit with the spirit of our campaigns. Tempelhof Airport in Berlin is perfect with its aesthetic. Hence, the opening of our very first boutique in Germany was an additional reason to go and shoot there.
Venetia Scott: Tempelhof is still one of the most impressive airports in the world – it was constructed in 1927 to resemble an eagle in flight and built on a massive scale. It has the most beautiful natural light and still retains many of its original features.
Serge and I work well together, we both bring a different point of view to the shoot. I know the sort of woman he admires and the “world” he wants to portray. He wants the woman and the environment to be fabulous – glamorous and opulent. We start with the casting and location… the rest follows.
Serge Cajfinger: I love Venetia’s work. I love her feminine vision of the Paule Ka woman. Both our visions fit very well together. We imagine six months in advance the next chapter of the story we have been telling. It’s like a movie going on starring the Paule Ka woman around the world.
Venetia Scott: Serge loves architecture and furniture so the setting on these shoots is very important and most of the images are shot on a wide angle lens. The girl is a component of the overall picture, although of course she gives the situation its life.
Serge Cajfinger: Everything is very well thought in advance but there is always a spontaneous contingency at the very moment of the shooting. Venetia constructs her imagery very well.
To each story we tell [Palm Springs for SS11, New York for AW11 and Acapulco for SS12] corresponds a moment we actually lived. And each time we are all very happy to be together for the shooting.
Venetia Scott: I’ve very happy memories of all of them – Serge is good fun.
