Isolated heroes book

Raf Simons & David Sims:

ISBN 10: 9110369287 / ISBN 13: 9789110369283

Published by Antwerp: Raf Simons, 2000., 2000

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 9789110369283

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Isolated heroes book
• Publisher: Antwerp: Raf Simons, 2000.
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9110369287
• ISBN 13: 9789110369283
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The series of photographs, collected under the banner 'Isolated Heroes', are the result of the collaboration British photographer David Sims and Belgian menswear designer Raf Simons undertook in the summer of 1999. Featured on the pictures are Raf Simons' models, dressed in his collection for Spring-Summer 2000. Each boy is credited with a serial number and his own first name. 'Isolated Heroes' contains both black and white and colour photographs. Originally intended as a work-in-progress, Sims' photographs of Simons' models soon became a body of work in it's own right. The photographs of 'Isolated Heroes' were never intended for mere promotional purposes. They even transcend more traditional fashion photography, as they reach for a timeless quality, devoid of signs of the times or traces of trendiness. The 'Isolated Heroes'-project deals with beauty, youth, masculinity and the perfect isolation of all these preoccupations. Sims and Simons share the same notions of aesthetics: honest, untouched, pure and real. Not one of the portrayed boys in 'Isolated Heroes' is a professional model. They are either too 'strange' or too 'ordinary' to fit the mold of supermodels. Yet, through the eyes of Sims and Simons, they are made visible, without the aid of gimmicks or theatrical enhancements. 'Isolated Heroes' is a sequence of faces and expressions, mindful boys and stern young men, their gaze fixed. They express nothing but their own personality. The photographs don't make them more beautiful, as in traditional (fashion) portraiture; each face is a peaceful vindication of modern perception of beauty, a resolute alternative to the clichÈd glorification of male strength. In narrowing the close-up on the faces, Sims and Simons have created portraits in an almost classical sense. The images evoke memories of Classical-Greek statues and postures, further enhanced with lighting, clear backdrop and focus.