Abaya Collection ’23

Galeries Lafayette · 2023 · Gold MUSE 2024

A fashion location begins communicating before the model moves. It can make a collection feel expected, or give the audience a new way to see it.

This film accompanied the Galeries Lafayette Ramadan collection launch. Location scouting is central to the approach: finding settings with enough character to complement the clothing without taking over the film.

Letting the setting contribute

A location is more than a convenient background. Its scale, texture and visual rhythm affect how the clothes read. The relationship needs to be deliberate, particularly when the collection carries a strong silhouette of its own.

The directing challenge is balance. Too little character and the setting adds nothing. Too much and the film begins promoting the place instead of the collection.

Movement as part of the presentation

A fashion film has something a still image cannot offer: the passage from one position to another. That gives the audience a different understanding of clothing, provided the movement remains connected to the work being presented.

For me, the useful question is what the film reveals over time. It might be a change in silhouette, a relationship with the setting or a shift in attitude. A sequence should earn the fact that it is moving.

A seasonal brief with its own identity

The collection sits within a recurring Ramadan collaboration. Recurrence provides a context, but each launch still needs an individual expression.

This project belongs to the part of my commercial work where the decisions before the shoot carry unusual weight. A setting that makes sense for the collection gives the film a foundation. The images can then develop that relationship rather than spend the whole running time trying to establish one.