Paolo Roversi’s poetic, timeless fashion photography celebrated in Paris exhibition
’Paolo Roversi’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera is the first large-scale exhibition of the seminal fashion photographer’s work in his home city. Curator Sylvie Lécallier tells Wallpaper* the story behind the landmark display
A Paolo Roversi photograph can be recognised immediately: a soft, gauzy focus, a rich interplay between shadow, colour and light, and a mood of painterly, sepia-toned romance. Sometimes, they appear like a relic from the past – like a hazy Victorian ambrotype, unearthed from an attic – other times, they are jarringly contemporary, capturing the strange, otherworldly forms of avant-garde designers like Rei Kawakubo (his work with whom formed the subject of US solo show in 2021) and Yohji Yamamoto, with whom Roversi has had a long artistic communion.
‘Paolo's photography is timeless,’ says Sylvie Lécallier, the curator of a new exhibition of Roversi’s work which opened earlier this month at Paris’ Palais Galiera (until 14 July 2024). ’It is detached from the spirit of the times, from the ephemeral trends of fashion. It is located both at the heart of fashion and at the edge. This is what makes him a photographer apart.’
‘Paolo Roversi’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera
Titled, simply, ‘Paolo Roversi‘, the exhibition includes 140 photographs by the photographer, who was born in Ravenna, northern Italy, before moving to Paris in 1973, where he began in photography, first as a reporter. In 1980, he photographed a campaign for Christian Dior beauty; later, he would go on to shoot for a slew of fashion titles, including Vogue France, Vogue Italia, and Egoïste, as well as immortalising the supermodels of the day, from Inès de la Fressange and Stella Tennant to Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss.
His distinctive style, which has included work on Polaroid as well as gelatin silver and dye transfer prints, is largely achieved through long-exposure manipulation of light, which Lécallier calls ’drawing with light’. ’[It is as if] his models and clothes are appearing from darkness,’ she continues. ’The shooting is akin to a real performance. He is like a painter, a conductor.’
Much of his studio work takes place in Studio Luce (Luce translates from Italian as ’light’), a vaunted space in Paris’ 14th arrondissement that has cemented his longtime link with the city, something that Lécallier says is important to celebrate in what will be the first large-scale monograph of his work in Paris. As such, many of the photographs are drawn from the Palais Galliera’s personal collection, several of which have never been on display to the public before.
In its layout, the exhibition abandons a chronological timeline in favour of a more poetic movement from darkness to light. ’Paolo’s photography is so timeless that we abandoned a chronological journey, which didn’t seem to mean much to the understanding of his work,’ explains Lécallier, who worked closely with Roversi on the exhibition’s design, having known the photographer for several years prior. ’We also did not want to lock it into themes. [Instead], light is a common thread: from the darkness of the dark room towards the daylight which bathes his studio through the large bay windows.’
As for why his collaborations with designers in particular were so successful – from Kawakubo and Yamamoto to Romeo Gigli and Azzedine Alaïa – Lécallier puts it down to Roversi’s good taste. ’Paolo has a real taste for beautiful clothes, as well as a great respect for designers who have a very strong creative universe,‘ she says. Her own favourite photograph in the display is not of a particular subject, but a pair of shoes, reflected in a mirror.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
’The model is absent, she has gone to do a make-up touch-up. She'll be back any second. This image speaks of the moment of shooting, but also of the theatre of appearances, reality and illusion,’ she says. ‘It takes us to the other side of the looking glass.’
‘Paolo Roversi’ runs at Paris’ Palais Galliera until 14 July 2024.
Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.
-
Tour the new Four Seasons Osaka, where time stands still
Set within a 49-storey tower, Four Seasons Osaka takes the traditional ryokan experience to new heights
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
How guest editor Marcio Kogan, during a visit to the movies, ‘discovered that something else exists in the world, real poetry’
Marcio Kogan is a guest editor of Wallpaper* October 2024. In his dedicated section, we discover how the world of cinema’s loss was architecture’s gain when a feature film failed but a dream space creator rose from the ashes
By Rainbow Nelson Published
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French Riviera
Tempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
By Tianna Williams Published
-
First look: how Diptyque used synaesthesia to create its poetic new perfume collection
Diptyque’s new perfume collection, ‘Les Essences de Diptyque’, captures the scent of coral and mother of pearl. Ahead of its launch, the maison’s noses tell Wallpaper* how this was done
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
In time for the Olympics, Onitsuka Tiger opens a Paris ‘hôtel’
Hôtel Onitsuka Tiger, on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, promises an immersive journey into the Japanese brand’s 75-year history, featuring some memorable ’residents’
By Jack Moss Published
-
First look: Stephen Jones’ extraordinary headwear to be celebrated in Paris exhibition
‘Stephen Jones, chapeaux d'artiste’ will span over four decades of the milliner’s ‘transformative and fun’ headwear, with a particular focus on his work in Paris – including a 30-year collaboration with Dior
By Jack Moss Published
-
Highlights from Haute Couture Week A/W 2024
Wallpaper* picks the best of Haute Couture Week A/W 2024 in Paris, from Olympics-inspired offerings at Dior and Thom Browne to the first Chanel collection since the departure of Virginie Viard
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2025: Loewe to Dries Van Noten
Wallpaper* picks the best moments of Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2025, from ‘hypnotic precision’ at Loewe to Dries Van Noten’s final show, as well as the latest outings from Pharrell Williams, Kim Jones and Grace Wales Bonner
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Auralee, the ’seductively unknowable’ Japanese label celebrating a decade of beautiful clothes
Ahead of Auralee’s S/S 2025 runway show at Paris Fashion Week Men’s this evening (18 June 2024), Dal Chodha meets Tokyo-based designer Ryota Iwai to speak about the brand’s considered, covetable collections
By Dal Chodha Published
-
’Daring to tread into the unknown’: a first look inside Dover Street Market Paris
Dover Street Market reveals the interior of its new Rei Kawakubo-designed Paris outpost, marking a new chapter for the inventive fashion store
By Jack Moss Published
-
Diptyque opens the doors to an ‘astonishing’ new London home (and you’ll want to move right in)
Diptyque has unveiled Maison Diptyque on New Bond Street, London, an immersive space that captures the storied world of the luxury perfumer
By Hannah Tindle Published