Following a month of fashion weeks, the internet is awash with imagery of seasonal collections, saturated with catwalk shots and backstage beauty pictures. However, artist and photographer Marie Valognes has refreshed our waning engagement with her brilliantly witty interpretations of some of our favourite shows under her pseudonym mise en – turning a Turkish sausage (courtesy of Dalston's TFC) into a Vetements look, dried algae (from Big Sur) into Yohji Yamamoto. "I got the idea last season," she explains. "In my practice [as a photographer], I love doing still-lifes, though there isn't always a way to find room for them. It’s interesting for me to make these visual associations in objects... they sort of bounce off each other and in this case it’s particularly fun to do and share."
"The colours and materials, they remind me of accessories to wash with." – Marie Valognes on Gucci
In her series for AnOthermag.com, the bulbous, waxy drippings of a candle become the raw-edged denim ruffles at Marques'Almeida, its marbled hues strangely synonymous with the collection's distressed fabrication. "I was inspired by the outfit's deconstruction, and the fabric breaking away," explains Valognes, who later found her inspiration for Yamamoto in the natural world. Here, "the elements of the whole look seemed to all be part of each other, like a whole sentence expressed with just the one symbol" – and somehow, her transformation of the Japanese master's harmonious punk poetics into seaweed worked perfectly.
"I was inspired by the outfit's deconstruction, and the fabric breaking away." – Marie Valognes on Marques'Almeida
The materials and colours at Gucci reminded her of "accessories to wash with" and so Alessandro Michele's delicate pastel lace became deconstructed loofahs, while Noir Kei Ninomiya's mix of materials evoked "the end of a dinner, when objects get mixed up on the table. So the still life translation is more abstract and random." Ultimately, the series instructs us to look differently at the images and garments which already seem familiar – and, if nothing else, turning an asymmetric Vetements sleeve into a Turkish sausage is some excellent light relief amidst the hard-talking fashion commentary.
"It’s like what happens at the end of a dinner, when objects get mixed up on the table. So the still life translation is more abstract/random." – Marie Valogneson on Noir Kei Neinomiya
"The elements of the whole look seemed to all be part of each other, like a whole sentence expressed with just the one symbol." – Marie Valognesonon on Yohji Yamamoto
"Here, I was inspired by the contrast between the top and bottom, and the oddity of the one sleeve doing it’s own thing independently from the rest of the top." – Marie Valogneson on Vetements
