27.08.09
Simon Foxton the world's leading Men's Fashion Stylist Interviewed
Professional Photographer: You studied fashion at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, leaving in 1983, and within a year you were styling fashion shoots at i-D magazine. How did that come about?
Simon Foxton: I started a clothing label called Bazooka soon after leaving college and Carlyn Franklin, who was then the fashion editor of i-D, asked me to style a picture under the Bazooka label, a kind of style challenge. I think we were pitched against the designers at Body Map, Ray Petri and Caroline Baker. Mark LeBon was the photographer.
Not long after that I decided to give up the label as I was making no money, I’m a very poor businessman. i-D heard about this and asked if I would be interested in doing some more styling, which I was.
Terry Jones, the editor and founder of
i-D, put me in touch with a young photographer they were working with called Nick Knight and that was that.
We clicked, and started working together.
Had the photographic image been an inspiration in your fashion work?
Yes of course, but probably no more than any other imagery. I also drew inspiration from painting, illustration and film etc.
I do remember clearly seeing some photos by Jean-Paul Goude in a magazine in the mid 70s of different groups of dancers, gays, blacks, Hispanics etc. I think that was quite an epiphany, I’d never seen anything as wonderful or modern. I still love those pictures.
There was a feeling in those days that anything was possible, a sort of hangover from punk. Did you feel that?
Yes, definitely. I had been very into punk at the time and then I came down to London, to go to Saint Martins where everyone was still experimenting with dress codes and concepts of gender and sexuality,
so I was really in the centre of all that excitement. The late 70s and early 80s in the UK felt very depressed and yet, it was an amazing breeding ground for new ideas and talent.
Which photographers were you working with at this time?
As I mentioned, I started working with Nick Knight and Mark LeBon, I’m not sure who else if I’m honest. I do have an amazingly poor memory though.
Where was your inspiration coming from then?
Well I guess it all sounds pretty naff now, but it really was from the streets and the clubs. There was an absolute explosion of clubs and one-off nights in London during the mid 80s and I went out as much as possible. Everyone dressed up, and looks and trends changed quickly and constantly.
It was a very exciting time. I just took inspiration from what I was seeing around me. It was kind of hard not to.
Presumably, given the photographers you work with, the collaborative process is very important to you and them.
Yes, very. I enjoy that side of things a lot.
It can often take months of discussion and sending reference images back and forth, but I find that sort of dialogue useful and rewarding; it throws up unexpected things. That’s why I try not to be too dogmatic about ideas; there just might be something better lying round the corner.
What makes you excited about a photographer’s work?
I think a clarity of vision and a fresh voice.
You create iconic images. Are you aware of this as you’re working?
Well that’s very nice of you to say, but I’m not sure I have that as my aim when I start a shoot. But during the process, quite often a look or a pose suddenly presents itself and you think, yes, that’s a good one.
Tell me a little about your work process before and on a shoot.
Before a shoot I will generally have spoken to the fashion director of the magazine, assuming it’s an editorial I’m doing, and have gone through the fashion ideas and credits that are needed. I will then have a number of meetings with the photographer to discuss the concept, staging, casting, lighting, grooming etc. This quite often involves quite a few visual references such as photo books, tearsheets, etc. I will then choose a hair and make-up team and brief them before the shoot also.
On the shoot my assistants sort out the clothes and I decide on the outfits for the models and keep an eye on the grooming.
I will also work with the photographer on the decision-making process of getting the intended shots. This varies from photographer to photographer, some like a hands-on approach where I stand behind the camera with them and help to instruct the models, others prefer me to just get my opinion from what’s on the monitor or on a Polaroid.
And are you involved in post-production work with the photographer?
Yes, to a certain extent, although I am not one to spend too much time hanging around the retouchers lab. Too boring.
I prefer to give my input at the beginning of the printing process and let them get on with it.
What would you say is the most common mistake that fashion photographers make when working with a stylist?
Probably not enough dialogue. It’s very useful to know and understand what all parties want from the shoot. It should be a collaboration.
Are you still as excited by fashion and photography now as you were in1984?
Yes, when I see it done well or very differently.
And finally, what advice would you give an aspiring fashion photographer?
Try and say something unique, find your own voice. Be aware of what’s around you and what’s gone before and then do something completely different.
Grant Scott
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