Indie Idols: Viviane Sassen
“Dora”
In this series, we’d like to give you a little primer on those icons – musicians, artists, girls-about-town, that are often cited by fashion designers, and editors, as inspiration behind collections, and editorials.
Who: Viviane Sassen
What: Photographer
Fans: Phillip Lim, Carven, Acne Studios, Miu Miu, Missoni, Max Mara, Stella McCartney, Dazed Magazine, POP Magazine
“Mimi” by Viviane Sassen.
Tell Me More: Viviane Sassen was born in Amsterdam. She lived in Kenya for three years until she was about 5, when her father decided to move the family back to Amsterdam. Despite her brief stay in Africa, it would leave an indelible mark on her future work. Upon graduating high school, she enrolled in college to study fashion design but after two years, switched to photography, inspired in part by the works of Juergen Teller and Nan Goldin, who often document their own lives. Her brief stint as a model would influence the way she approached photography. “I think that the experience I had of being shot by male photographers shaped what I was attempting to do, to show a different kind of sexuality than that created by the male gaze,” she told The Guardian in 2013, “one that is more fractured and disjointed.”
‘In Bloom’ editorial for ‘Dazed’ Magazine.
Sassen’s personal work, often takes her back to Africa and other remote locations, but her work is not at all in the style of photojournalists like Dorothea Lange or Ansel Adams. Rather, she focuses on the colors and textures of her surroundings, deconstructing the subjects, the land, and everything else that we may find recognizable. Oftentimes, she will collage, or digitally alter her images, forcing the viewer to give it a closer look.
“Poinsettia”
Around 2000 Sassen submitted some of her work to Purple Fashion magazine, which published it. It did not take long for the rest of the fashion world to start paying attention— to the budding photographer, she land a Miu Miu campaign in 2001, and again in 2002. Since then, she has photographed beautiful and weird campaigns for the likes of Missoni, Max Mara, and Stella McCartney. For spring 2015 alone, she shot campaigns for 3.1 Phillip Lim, Carven, and Acne Studios. The latter also featured her images, woven into jeans for their Fall 2015 collection, which in general had a very distinct “Sassen vibe,” with jackets and dresses with “collaged” details.
Ad campaign for Acne Studios Fall 2014, and Carven Spring 2013.
Signature Style: Sassen’s photographs have a clean straight-forward composition, and she loves splashes of bold color. With the use of props, collage, and digital alteration, she deftly blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. Whether in her fashion photography, or in her art, Sassen’s work figures out a way to find magic in the everyday and the mundane.
“Parasomnia”
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