Issue 35
What is it that hides behind the solitude of CLAUDE MONTANA’s gaze, as photographed by HELMUT NEWTON, in the back of a black lacquered sports coupé? Why does KARL LAGERFELD frame his image shot by HORST with a fan adorned with ideograms? And, how behind the name ADOLF LOOS – the author of ORNAMENT AND CRIME whose recent republication bears the appearance of a vade mecum of the current day lay a philosophy whose essentialism seems as indispensable as the most spartan garment created by CELINE? It is in rummaging through the features of these personalities that the vision for this edition of ENCENS was born. Clearly we were dealing with singularities bestowed with a seventh sense and whose slightest details and acts, like annotations in the margin, feeds a fascination. Fashion design is nothing like a list of ingredients mixed together. It’s a shift. Thus when GRETA GARBO – also present in this edition – asked CECIL BEATON for photographs to renew her passport, nobody could understand how these resulted in the actress being dressed like PIERROT. Had BEATON knowingly got his subject wrong, or had he preferred to transfigure GARBO through his vision? This shifting of appearances is the subject of this edition.
