Diane

It’s a very special day: the person portrayed has prepared herself with great care. You can assume that everything was thoughtfully put together – make-up, costume, jewellery – all arranged to perfectly match the actual highlight: the headpiece – in this case a little satin cap with an eye-catching, speckled black veil. Frédéric Stucin was not at some important fashion event, but at a horse race in France. Since 1843, the Prix de Diane has been held at the Chantilly racetrack, a mere 40km from Paris. It is not only one of the most important horse races in the country, but also one of the big societal – and thus fashion – events. The photographer mixed with the crowd of around 30,000 visitors, in search of the most interesting hats. “I choose the people according to their hats, but also for their faces, the look in their eyes. If I found them interesting, I asked if I could take a portrait shot. It was purely instinctual.”

Taking the actual photo had to follow quite promptly; on the whole it only took a couple of minutes in the improvised open-air studio. “I used a white background, a Profoto B1 flash and a Beauty Dish. I photographed with a Leica S007 and Apo-Macro Summarit-S 120mm f/2.5. It was very easy to get people into this out-door studio. They were happy enough to play the game, to be a star for a moment,” Stucin remembers.

This is how the fashion safari resulted in a very special portrait series. In answer to the question of how many typically French elements can be found in the pictures, the photographer counters with great charm, “I think you have to tell me…”

There is more material to see in LFI 6/2017.