Interview with Marie Sophie Wilson
Marie Sophie Wilson epitomises the magnetic free spirit of creativity that captivates artists, photographers, film directors and musicians. She is a person – more than a personality – who has made a distinctive trait of her natural elegance. As a model (which is often a reductive word, especially in her case), over the years she has been cast in the most beautiful roles of artistic photography, thanks to collaborations with the greatest photographers ever seen in fashion. After the photo shoot for this issue, where she interprets a contemporary Joan of Arc, our second meeting took place via telephone with us in Milan and her in Rome. Before talking about her irrepressible and ever-vibrant punk attitude, we discussed the beginnings of her career that took off from Italy’s capital of fashion: “I started in this profession in Milan almost by accident when I was very young. My first fashion photo was taken by the legendary Aldo Fallai, which allowed me to be noticed by Paolo Roversi and the leading Parisian agencies.” In next to no time she was in high demand, being recruited to grace the most prestigious sets and runways. Her most vivid memories revolve around Peter Lindbergh and Azzedine Alaïa, culminating in her move to New York. “The Big Apple was wonderful in the ’80s. During the day I had my modelling work, and in the evenings I used to go to concerts to listen to the top bands of those years, such as the Ramones. I’d turn up wearing denim shorts, ripped tights and a pair of Dr. Martens, which I still have today,” she recalls. Yet her most important moments in the fashion system arrived in the following decade. “Fashion in the ’80s was affreuse [awful]! But then came Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, Jean Colonna and John Galliano. The style changed dramatically. A kind of unbridled, off-the-wall creative genius became the only guide for designers and maisons. What I see now is very different, certainly more business-oriented with the incessant and consumeristic production of garments.”
“Fashion in the ’80s was affreuse [awful]! But then came Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, Jean Colonna and John Galliano. The style changed dramatically. A kind of unbridled, offthe-wall creative genius became the only guide for designers and maisons.”
Marie Sophie Wilson may have a critical view of today’s fashion, but she nonetheless recognises that a transformation is underway. “In the new generations, I admire the courage to dive into an industry that’s dominated by the big luxury groups. Compared to when I started, younger people nowadays have to deal with many different situations and aspects. They have to consider demands related to the environment and product quality, for example. I’m thinking of designers like Marine Serre or CHB’s Christian Boaro, since I’ve worked with both of them. Then there’s my friend Véronique Leroy, who has always focused on the quality of French and Belgian craftwork.” In recent years, Wilson has taken a step back from the limelight, a radical choice that resonates in her personal and, above all, professional life. “I’m an original punk,” she laughs, “and I wanted to regain my freedom by recounting things that I want to talk about, as a film producer behind the camera but also sometimes as an actress.” For her, this new chapter is centred on portraying “others” through a personal and intimate lens: “It’s what I want to do now – to be able to tell stories about people who are still with us or who have already left this world.” Accordingly, memory is one of the leitmotifs of the “new” Marie Sophie Wilson, a novel version immortalised on these pages. “I’ve already posed as Joan of Arc in the past, you know?” she reveals. “It was a few years ago on set with Richard Avedon for the Pirelli Calendar, and I was representing my country, France.”