The Selects Gallery presents an exhibition in collaboration with Par Excellence, the luxury artisan showroom dedicated to French craftsmanship. Entitled “Chic: Capturing that ‘Je Ne Sais Quoi’ in Photography”, the exhibition creates a world centered around the glamour, sexiness, freedom, and creativity of couture fashion and editorial photography. The curation celebrates French style, reimagined by international fashion photographers.

The exhibition features renowned fashion photographers Terry O’Neill, Jacques Olivar, Kenneth Willardt, and Sylvie Castioni, alongside up-and-coming Nigerian photographer Adebayo Jolaoso, with images of supermodels Esther Cañadas, Doutzen Kroes, and the iconic Brigitte Bardot.

Terry O’Neill is one of the most celebrated and collected fashion photographers, best known for his work capturing youth culture in the 1960’s. In photographing the rise of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Brigitte Bardot, among many others, O’Neill defined celebrity and created a visual language for the representation of icons.

French photographer Jacques Olivar is known for his elegant, narrative-driven photographs; taking formalistic cues from classic film, Olivar imbues his models with a sense of character and mystery. Fashion is a critical element in his work, as he creates the world of the image around the clothes, letting them create the sense of character and mystery.

French photographer Sylvie Castioni is known for her intimate portraits of female models, which aim to connect to the subject’s sacred femininity and soul. Her images create a world of fashion and couture which is centered around women embracing their innate femininity and power.

Danish photographer Kenneth Willardt, a major contributor at Harper’s Bazaar US, is a versatile fashion photographer, known for his beauty images as well as his highly editorial fashion portraits. Marked by a combination of precision and joyful spontaneity, his modern aesthetic is highly emblematic of contemporary fashion photography.

Nigerian photographer Adebayo Jolaoso combines the classic fashion photography imagery he was raised seeing in magazines with a contemporary Nigerian eye. Through his technical, elegant, and imaginative images, he embraces diverse forms of self-expression and celebrates the diversity and beauty of Nigerian models.

The exhibition is the first photography exhibition to be hosted in the space after the renovation by interior designer Thomas Pheasant.

Chic: Capturing that ‘Je Ne Sais Quoi’ in Photography
From March 30th to June 29th, 2023
Par Excellence Showroom
344 Bowery, 5th Floor, NOHO
New York, NY 10012
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm