[T]he fashion world is always colliding and collaborating with artists, like two exotic fish constantly swimming around each other in a never-ending dance of inspiration, a black and white yin & yang. When the Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2015 collection came to New York for 48 hours they sent a selection over to our studio for another midnight sitting (after the delicate, one-of-a-kind pieces spent the day in back-to-back appointments with clients, collectors, buyers and press).
Of course, shooting couture on a model would be terribly fun but sometimes I want more of a story… not to mention, the Chanel shoots happen in the middle of New York Fashion Week where every model is busy being sent down the runways multiple times a day.
So we find our own muses.
Last September it was our Botticelli-esque raven, artist India Salvor Menuez on a concrete set piece we created for her, to live like a flower sprouting up between the cracks of distressed urban time. For this sitting, my creative collaborator Kelly Framel, found violinist Margot Moe, already a fixture in the fashion world for her legendary violin riffs over musical partner Mia Moretti’s DJ sets. They’ve brought music from the Lower East Side up to the runways of Fashion Week and into the temple of art by opening for Janet Jackson at the Louvre.
Which brings me back to my point of fashion and art and its never ending dance of inspiration.
So here Margot is, an artist, and there is CHANEL, the most legendary fashion house in the world, a moment of black and white yin and yang tugging and pulling and swirling and and jumping around each other on set like a tangled pair of lovers caught up in the fires of inspiration one never quite able to let the other go.
We sat in the studio in silence and listened to Margot play, the snow falling in a white blanket outside our old industrial windows contrasting with the inky black looks billowing through the set and I thought back to that moment when I was sitting in Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment last fall, listening to the stories of her intimate dinner parties. She liked interesting people, people who had a story, people who created something and played to their own tune much like Coco herself.
I can’t help but think in another world, she would have been quite pleased to have Margot filling her home and her heart with a soulful tune that would fade out onto the black and white streets of Paris…
Tell me about some of the current projects you are working on?
I’m in the studio right now recording my solo record, creating a classical music mixtape, and writing an orchestral piece.
You’re an incredible violinist, how did you get started?
I picked it up when I was four and haven’t put it down since.
What drew you to the violin?
It’s a conversation without words.
What is your goal with music?
Be beautiful.
Who are your favorite violinists?
No one makes the violin sing and cry like Lucia Micarelli and Hilary Hahn do.
What is the coolest thing you have ever done with music?
Travel the world transcending genres.
Tell me about The Dolls:
A band Mia Moretti and I created with our passion for cross genre and dance music.
What does CHANEL mean to you?
Classic, consistent and exciting.
When I play music I feel….
everything.
Fashion is…
soulful decoration.
Music is….
life saving
Favorite trait of New Yorkers is…
fearlessness in possibility
In 10 years I hope to be…
chasing boys and writing songs.
Coffee or Tea?
coffee and tea
What neighborhood do you live in?
east village
best food joint in the city?
R&B night at Melba’s in Harlem
My favorite artist is…
Artists: Bjork & Joni Mitchell
Composers: Shostakovich & Philip Glass
The best way I express myself is….
daydreaming with a glass of red wine.
I am most inspired by…
my best friends and road trips.
An ideal day for me is….
being wherever I am with the local classical music station on in my car radio.
I find calm amidst the craziness….
by dancing
Beauty to me is…
kindness and openness
I wish people appreciated more…
I wish people appreciated each other more
I wish more women….
darling, we’re perfect.
2015 for me will be…
full.
I am most passionate about…
spontaneity
I am happiest when….
I start my day off with a Motown record and a bubble bath.
Love is…
where nightfall lands and the skies begin.
Margot Moe in Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2015 || Styling by Kelly Framel || Makeup by Porsche Cooper || Hair by Francis Anthony Rodriguez
Love CHANEL? Me too! More CHANEL stories:
Boulevard CHANEL || Metiers d’Art Ateliers Lesage & Lemarié ||
Coco Chanel’s Apartment || CHANEL Cinemagraph || CHANEL in B&W ||
CHANEL Haute Couture || CHANEL: Light & Time || CHANEL in Polaroids ||