Photography
KYLE WEEKS
Styling
LAETITIA GIMENEZ
In this collaborative story, six emerging visual artists from Paris wear catwalk looks from Valentino’s AW21 collection
Nataal has teamed up with FARFETCH and Valentino to celebrate a new generation of visual artists in Paris. This community of agenda-setting talents - whose work addresses themes as diverse as identity, gender, the environment and spirituality – are invigorating the city’s creative scene. Here they wear catwalk looks from Valentino’s AW21 collection set against a brutalist landscape. Brought together, these new wave talents and their art pieces speak to the brand’s radical direction for the season. Abbreviated lengths, clean and cocooned shapes and fine details such as a cut-out diamond motif across knitwear express a poetic punk attitude. As Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli pushes the house’s romantic codes into new territory that feels at once minimal and sensual, these artists likewise take us into the frontier.
update to full film on vimeo
JOSUÉ COMOE
Multi-disciplinary artist Alizée Quitman studied at L'École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de La Cambre in Brussels before recently establishing herself in Paris. Her experimental practice addresses the body with recent works delving into human organs as a way explore our obsession with outward appearances. “I want to make space for the body through installation, sculpture, performance and jewellery,” she says. “I often use science fiction to talk about subjects, such as gender, identity and future technology. I also look at the origins of my father, who is from Martinique.” Her jewellery, recently worn by Kelsey Lu, is made from old cutlery and other upcycled metal objects that she melts into organic forms. “I’ve been making jewellery for women to wear to defend themselves. It looks chic and soft but can be put on the neck or face and act like a knuckle duster.”
Multi-disciplinary artist Alizée Quitman studied at L'École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de La Cambre in Brussels before recently establishing herself in Paris. Her experimental practice addresses the body with recent works delving into human organs as a way explore our obsession with outward appearances. “I want to make space for the body through installation, sculpture, performance and jewellery,” she says. “I often use science fiction to talk about subjects, such as gender, identity and future technology. I also look at the origins of my father, who is from Martinique.” Her jewellery, recently worn by Kelsey Lu, is made from old cutlery and other upcycled metal objects that she melts into organic forms. “I’ve been making jewellery for women to wear to defend themselves. It looks chic and soft but can be put on the neck or face and act like a knuckle duster.”
ALIZÉE QUITMAN
Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux
Guadeloupe-born painter Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux is still studying at Beaux-Arts de Paris and yet has already enjoyed his fi rst major solo with Cécile Fakhoury gallery in Abidjan. His portraits exude a softness and sense of nostalgia that reflects his deep empathy with his subjects, who appear deep in thought or simply going about their daily lives. “My Caribbean heritage and African roots inspire me a lot and I have done much research into cos-mogony and spirituality,” he says. “People are made of many complex and plural layers, so that's the way I try to work. My paintings bring together familial, matrimonial, spiritual and symbolic references.” As the artist’s star rises, the Paris art scene is also opening up to him. “There's a very ebullient youth in Paris,” he adds. “It’s important for me to make connections with other artists here. It brings richness and experience and feeds into the great energy of the city.”
Maty Biayenda
“My art has always been about who I am and the different path that I’ve been fi nding for myself. I’m trying to defi ne my femininity and where I come,” says Maty Biayenda of her introspective practice. Born in Namibia to Congolese and French parents, she grew up painting and illustrating and is currently studying textile design at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Drawing on inspirations as far reaching as Impressionism, noughties R&B and the films of Djibril Diop Mambéty, she creates her own interpretation of Black beauty across toile de jouy-like cloths. Her women look super fly whether riding a horse, pole dancing or gossiping on the phone. And as her engrossing Instagram feed reveals, Biayenda also takes style seriously. “What you wear can impact how you feel. It can empower you, or you can dress in a way that has a story to tell,” she reveals. “My Valentino look is very graphic and it almost makes me feel like a statue, like an art piece.”
Fabien Conti’s large-scale paintings of foreboding scenes of nature ask the viewer to consider their own complicity in the global climate crisis. “I hope they are meditative works reflecting a human tragedy, both predicted and observed, creating landscapes with an atmosphere that is tempestuous yet calm,” he says. The Beaux-Arts de Paris student often uses gradients of colour to recreate a windswept atmosphere, the skies ranging from dark blacks to blood reds. As for his Valentino look, it resonates with his appreciation of minimalism. “I enjoy fashion and I appreciate wearing these beautiful pieces. I have a few Valentino items in my wardrobe and what I love about them is that they’re simple, artistic and have great details.”
Fabien Conti
Alexia Fiasco
Alexia Fiasco was drawn to photography as a way to create an archive of Black lives that she felt was missing, both in the public and personal sphere. Studying at Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin before returning to Paris, her ongoing body of work, The Denial, employs a fictional documentary style to imagine the memories her non-existent family photo album could have contained. “My father is from Cape Verde but he left for Paris when he was 13 and raised me with no history of my roots. So, two years ago I decided to go to Cape Verde to meet my family. After two months of getting to know them, we built a family album from the stories that they told me.” Fiasco is also co-founder of Fille De Blédards, a collective of artists creating a space for work by women artists from minority backgrounds.
Creative
Photography Kyle Weeks
Styling Laëtitia Gimenez Adam, at Streeters
Creative direction Marie Gomis-Trezise
Film direction Remember You Were Made to be Used
Hair Yann Turchi
Make-up Aurore Gibrien
Nails Beatrice Eni
Set design Leonne Faulks
Words Helen Jennings
Photography assistance Aurele Ferrero, Chloe May Truong, Anthony Karayan
Digital operation Oliver Looren
Film assistance Florenti Marti, Sekou Camara
Film sound FX093
Styling assistance Lise Breton
Make-up assistance Claire Laugeois, Fay Bio-Toura
Hair assistance Melissa Nerovique
Set design assistance Louis Niermans
Production Farago
Art direction Precious Opara, and Delali Ayivi
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