We talk to the photographer about capturing the humanity behind fashion week, finding a physical manifestation for her art, and releasing her debut book.
“When Fashion Week came around in February, I took about 250, 300 polaroids in the course of a week. I had a crate of them. Making this book was just me sitting on a crate of polaroids and figuring out how to create physical experiences for art that is so often fleeting.”
The first time I met Paige Powell, she had just packed up her life in Los Angeles to settle into her now home of New York amidst the chaos of a September fashion week. Now, only a couple months past her one year NYC-iversary, she has released her debut photography book – a curated selection of polaroids from the AW24 season.
POLAROIDS BOOK 01: New York Fashion Week F/W 2024, a hardcover time capsule of one week back in February, features the likes of Julia Fox, Irina Shayk, and Paloma Elsesser in an homage to the vibrant community behind some of fashion’s biggest moments. Capturing the fleeting moments of instinctual creativity and artistic synergy backstage, Powell’s photography balances the glitz and glamour of a sparkling runway with the raw intimacy behind the scenes for a comprehensive, genuine story of human connection.
“I’m not the most technical photographer. I have so many friends who are so technically driven,” Powell tells me as we connect over Zoom, Northeast autumn foliage peeking through her windows. “But I will make someone look good, because I love to make people feel as beautiful as I see them. That is so important to me. I find people to be so beautiful and have such an essence, and it’s such an honour to be the person that’s trusted to capture that.”
With a background in music management and creative direction and experiences working with Jesse Jo Stark at Chrome Hearts and assisting Hugo Comte, Powell’s early career was shaped through the lens of world-building, a familiarity with the fashion industry, and a love for the medium of photography: “I’ve always taken photos. I love photography. I always bring my camera out to the club, I was the one taking the photos of my friends before they go out. And as I was working on these different projects with music and creative direction, my camera kept becoming the tool that I leaned into to express what I was trying to say for the client, what I was trying to build.”
Bringing her West Coast training to New York Fashion Week for the first time three years ago, she suddenly found herself immersed in a world she never wanted to leave. “I fell in love with the runways and I fell in love with that backstage once in a lifetime camaraderie that is built,” she explains. “Whether it’s fashion or music, whether you’re on set or backstage, I love that camaraderie between communities when you’re creating.”
Perhaps it is her own experience in these spaces, and the love she has for the people who inhabit them, that allows her to portray them so authentically.
“I couldn’t say that I have a hit list of what I like to capture,” she explains when I ask about the shots she looks for. “It’s the camaraderie between the models and the designers, when they’re having a little gentle moment of love and appreciation. I really like those niche in-between moments of gentle human instinct.”
On the runway, her focus remains on the human aspect of fashion, of how a look moves on the body and how the model feels in it. “I’m so hyper focused on the details of how the outfit’s moving, that moment on the runway where the model has this dreamy gaze and the background is blurred.”
Deciding to compile these photographs into a physical coffee table book came from a New Years resolution. And unlike many of our January goals, hers she saw through. “When I made this year’s resolutions, one of my top goals was to have more physical manifestations of my work, whether that was in print magazines or in a book, something physical.”
“I was lucky enough to work with a wonderful book graphic designer, Andreas, based in Los Angeles,” she continues. “Working with him was a practice in human instinct and flow. How does it feel to open the book? Where do you start the journey? How does the journey build to a climax? Where does the journey end?”
Starting with Altuzarra and moving into portraits, events, runways, and backstage polaroids, she finds the seamless yet chaotic flow of how fashion week feels. “I didn’t want it to feel so sterile and A to Z because that’s not how fashion week feels. One day it’s a party, one day it’s a runway, next day it’s an event, next day it’s backstage.”
While she’s only just celebrated the release of POLAROIDS, Powell is already looking ahead. “I’ve taken Polaroids my whole life. So when I began making the book, I knew right away that this was going to be Book One because I wanted to have the freedom to keep making these and have a Book Two from another season, a Book Three from a certain city, a Book Four from who knows what, that ability to keep making a physical form.” We can’t wait.
