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Walter Pearce Went to Paris Fashion Week and Did Not Take Pictures of Fashions

These photos from Paris offer an alternative perspective on the spectacle of style.

Sylvester and Matt. All photos by Walter Pearce

Walter Pearce recently stopped by the VICE offices and offered to take some pictures at Paris Fashion Week, where he was going to model in a number of shows. I immediately recognized him from that Eckhaus Latta poppers ad, but more importantly, his photographs seemed unique to me, given what most photographs of fashion shows look like. But these pictures are singular in the driest way possible—Pearce seems to find himself in some pretty spectacular situations, but his pictures rarely depict the spectacle at hand. While press photographers clamber and trample one another, all trying to get the same view of the model on the runway, Walter Pearce instead focuses on the fire extinguisher in the corner of the room, the shoes of people waiting to enter the show, a crack in the ceiling of the staging area. He also photographs people he meets along the way, employing a style that is both heavily vernacular and unselfconscious. Maybe it's just the expatriate factor, but to me, Pearce's landscapes might call to mind a sedated Berenice Abbott. Maybe his still lifes are an anesthetized Atget, his portraits a blasé Brassaï. To all of these comparisons, add a healthy measure of post-Warholian detachment, and an aesthetic that is unmistakably contemporary. Welcome to Paris, the city of lights, the fashion capital of the world! Now, let's look at the floor.

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Rick Owens show

Paris

Backstage at Gosha Rubchinskiy

Ciccolina

Comme des Garçons showroom

Comme des Garçons showroom

Paris

Comme des Garçons showroom

Document magazine party

Dust magazine party

Free food at the Comme des Garcons showroom

Masses magazine party

Gosha Rubchinskiy

Gosha Rubchinskiy at Ciccolina

Mark Hsu at Dries Van Noten party

Masses magazine party

Masses magazine party

Masses magazine party

Matching at Masses

Matching outside of Rick Owens

Paris

Paris

Rick Owens exterior

Masses magazine party

Saint Laurent Paris show exterior

Saint Laurent Paris show

Paris

Undercover party

Showroom boy

Walter Pearce is an NYC-based photographer, writer, and model. Follow him on Instagram for more dry moments from exciting places, and plenty of selfies.