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.’
