Paul and Marie, photographer and set-designer of the 2020 summer collection

Paul Rousteau and Marie Debarre are respectively photographer and set-designer: it is to them that we decided to trust to photograph our latest summer 2020 collection. Meet this creative and complementary pair.

It was with our feet in the water that we decided to stage this new summer season near Le Moutchic in New Aquitaine; To do this, we called on Paul Rousteau, photographer in Paris for ten years and his partner, Marie Debarre, former stylist and set-designer for two years. The two met in Belgium during their studies in an art school in Saint-Luc (Paul in object design and Marie in fashion design).

Paul and Marie’s career

For three years, Paul was interested, in addition to design, painting, music and sculpture, before leaving for Switzerland to study photography. Marie, returns to Paris to work as a stylist in a House where she draws, chooses colors, gives free rein to her inspiration. She even created her organic and ethical women’s clothing brand for a while, but the adventure stopped after three years for Chifoumi. Leaving in Brussels in 2017 for an artistic director’s job, she returned two years later to turn to set design. She made her debut with Paul, before being contacted by an agent, with whom she currently works. She has notably worked for several major brands in cosmetic textures, such as Guerlain or Yves Saint-Laurent.

Since then, Paul and Marie have worked very regularly together. They influence, support and complement each other :

“In common we have color and light, that’s what interests us and then, on ideas that come either from Paul or from me, we are at the service of each other, we will be able to technically come to a common will. If Paul wants to achieve something, I’m here to find ideas that can succeed. ”

Together, their goal is to take the idea even further thanks to their respective talents.

The collaboration between Paul and Marie and Maison Montagut

Their collaboration with Maison Montagut is a logical follow-up: Paul has already been working on the Fil Lumière line for two years; its colorful and sunny touch is obvious for this new collection, resolutely pop and joyful. When asked what brings him closer to his work at Maison Montagut, he replies that he sees in his images a softness, a roundness that can be found in the mesh. There’s something pretty human too, pretty positive in the brand’s DNA.

For this collection the theme was “kinetic art”, with “optical stripes”, “solar shades”, “mosaics”, “colorama” or “deep & dye”, it was therefore natural for the brand to question Paul Rousteau to capture the images of this summer season.

“The black and white brief is not us. We want to put life into it, we have to extend this universe. Colors were the first thing : it’s up to us to take this collection to a more colorful universe, more pop.”

The pictures of Paul and Marie

Paul shows us in the catalog some of his photos : what is he trying to bring in his photos ? To provoke chance, to cause photographic “errors” (yes, a bit like tarte tatin) :

“Everything is defined : the models, the style and the location, and then it’s up to me to make the mistake, which is a bit of a magic thing anyway. The errors are quite random: all the flares, the Plexiglas games defined by Marie, the reflections, the play of mirrors and shadows …”

Paul and Marie had in mind a set of geometric lines already worked on the Fil Lumière, which they wanted to extend with Maison Montagut. Lac du Moutchic was also chosen for its ideal scenography, with all the houses around which provided graphic continuity. This is how they came up with images that play with reflections, with “pool bottom” prints and blocks on which the models could land in the water, to interact with the light.

Some of the models like Adrien Dantou were chosen because they danced : “Very comfortable, he was able to offer a lot of things and it was great, because we wanted something more alive …”

“On the shoot there was a common and positive energy, things were done easily” concludes Marie.

Chinese portrait of Paul and Marie

If you were an era ?

Marie : “1930s : people got loose a little more and I liked all the aesthetics of the time: the first steps of Chanel, the first bathers in the North of France, these are images that m have inspired a lot. ”

Paul : “It’s funny that you say that, I may be twenty years back; I often speak of the Impressionists or Fauvists, when the painting started to “degenerate”, to show something other than reality. This is the point that interests me, my goal is to deconstruct photography as they have deconstructed painting. I make a lot of analogy with this period.”

If you were an emotion ?

Paul : “I like contemplative but it’s not an emotion …”

Marie : “Joy, it is important.”

If you were a picture ?

Marie : “A family picture. Paul it would be a missed picture for sure !”

Paul : “Yes, a missed picture ! “

If you were a superpower ?

Marie : “I would like to play with time, dilate it to be able to make it last longer and when I get fed up, shorten it all up. To be able to control it a little more… ”

Paul : “Show the invisible, finally be able to see what is invisible.”

If you were a hashtag ?

Paul : “#myass or #mylifeisbetterthanyours to criticize Instagram and because it’s funny but otherwise we don’t use too much.”

Marie : “#marielabarre, it’s a bit self-absorbed but it allows me to be referenced on my work, I like Instagram.”