Fun fact! The Dead Sea is the saltiest body of water in the world, set to dry out completely, experts say, by the year 2050. Fiorucci loves travel – and hates FOMO. Which is why we sent supermodel Georgia May Jagger for a splash around in these sun-drenched waters for our summer ‘17 campaign shoot. Below, in conversation with IDEA Books’ David Owen, she explains what went down.
DAVID OWEN: SO TELL ME ABOUT THE DEAD SEA SHOOT. YOU HAD NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE?
Georgia May : No, never! It really is crazy. If you get the seawater in your eyes then you are literally blinded. You can’t even walk on the ground because it is encrusted with salt so it cuts into your feet. That’s why the jelly shoes became a prominent component for the shoot. I have never really been anywhere quite like it. If you were to see what was slightly out of shot, you would have seen so many older people on their weekend holiday to the Dead Sea! I think it must have been quite shocking us all arriving and me sticking out like a sore thumb!
D: YOU CAME AWAY WITH SO MANY PICTURES: LIKE YOU WOULD EXPECT COMING BACK FROM A HOLIDAY.
G: We weren’t really given a shot list, so we did what we felt in the moment and just went with it. I think it was quite amazing the way we did it. It was similar to the way my mum (ex-model Jerry Hall) describes to me how the old Vogue trips were. They used to tell them to go ahead of time, get a tan and then they would spend a week at the location. It felt very much like that kind of vibe. Whereas now, we are so used to everything being like: ‘We have ten shots and we have to do them all now’. But in fact, we actually ended up with more pictures the way we did it because there was less pressure and it felt more real.
D: IT LOOKS REAL ON INSTAGRAM BECAUSE FIORUCCI POSTS THEM OF COURSE BUT SO DOES JOSH (WILKS, PHOTOGRAPHER) AND YOU AND VICTORIA (YOUNG, STYLIST).
G: I have posted tons of them and that’s not because I have been asked to post them, it’s because I genuinely like the images. The way that they look is very different to what I would usually model for, for instance studio stuff. It’s a lot more special.
D: TELL ME ABOUT THE PICTURE WITH THE GOGGLES. DO YOU KNOW THE ONE I MEAN?
G: Yeah! I love that! I really enjoyed walking around with that crazy pink makeup on and that hairstyle. It was quite funny because there were all of these women who kind of looked slightly similar. There were lots of older people at that resort and I looked like a crazier version - a super eccentric old lady.
D: IT LOOKS REAL ON INSTAGRAM BECAUSE FIORUCCI POSTS THEM OF COURSE BUT SO DOES JOSH (WILKS, PHOTOGRAPHER) AND YOU AND VICTORIA (YOUNG, STYLIST).
G: I have posted tons of them and that’s not because I have been asked to post them, it’s because I genuinely like the images. The way that they look is very different to what I would usually model for, for instance studio stuff. It’s a lot more special.
D: TELL ME ABOUT THE PICTURE WITH THE GOGGLES. DO YOU KNOW THE ONE I MEAN?
G: Yeah! I love that! I really enjoyed walking around with that crazy pink makeup on and that hairstyle. It was quite funny because there were all of these women who kind of looked slightly similar. There were lots of older people at that resort and I looked like a crazier version - a super eccentric old lady.
D: HOW INTO INSTAGRAM ARE YOU?
G: For me, I only want to post pictures of things that I genuinely like. So, I use it in the way that everyone else does and my account is my own. I post work stuff but there are lots of people that do lots of paid post ad things and I’m just not really into that. I like being organic and honest with my Instagram. I think a lot of people worry about it and obviously it has become a huge part of fashion, but I think it would be sad if our whole world became just digital. I do enjoy it though – I like following photographers and finding funny things like memes and weird animals.
D: FIORUCCI’S NEW HOME IS IN SOHO, LONDON. WHAT DOES LONDON MEAN TO YOU?
G: I live in North London, so yeah! It’s home. As for Soho, you can’t really avoid it. My room mate is the team captain of the Palace skate team and Palace is also near Bleach, which I partly own and is (my friend) Alex Brownsell’s hair salon. So it is a quite funny positioning for me and my life. They are all right there. I feel like I end up going there even when I don’t mean to. It is quite an amazing part of London still. It’s still has that exciting thing of bumping into people you know on the street and there are always lots of things going on. I think it is a good place for the shop.
Soho still has that exciting thing of bumping into people you know on the street.
D: FIORUCCI’S NEW HOME IS IN SOHO, LONDON. WHAT DOES LONDON MEAN TO YOU?
G: I live in North London, so yeah! It’s home. As for Soho, you can’t really avoid it. My room mate is the team captain of the Palace skate team and Palace is also near Bleach, which I partly own and is (my friend) Alex Brownsell’s hair salon. So it is a quite funny positioning for me and my life. They are all right there. I feel like I end up going there even when I don’t mean to. It is quite an amazing part of London still. It’s still has that exciting thing of bumping into people you know on the street and there are always lots of things going on. I think it is a good place for the shop.
D: FIORUCCI STARTED A LITTLE BEFORE YOUR TIME. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOW IT WAS FIRST TIME AROUND?
G: Everything I really like has been before my time. For me those images are so iconic. I immediately knew when the job came up what it was and what I associated it with.
Fiorucci was one of those people that didn’t really run out of ideas, he was always coming up with something really new.
People always talk about the past being a really exciting time, but I like to be very in the ‘now’. I like to think that ‘now’, even though it is quite a horrible time politically, can be an exciting time for creativity and bringing people together. Going out there with art and music is something really special. It is great that Fiorucci is something that is happening now and while many of these images relate to the past, there is a new take on it as well. [Elio] Fiorucci was one of those people that didn’t really run out of ideas, he was always coming up with something really new. And actually, in a way, it all looks ahead of its time. A lot of the clothes produced back then are fashionable now. I think more is more. Wear it all together!
Model: Georgia May Jagger
Photography: Josh Wilks
Text: David Owens