Riding high
Collaborative photography duo French Cowboy showcase their namesake collection with new online art portal Runway Gallery
Runway Gallery is the perfect place to snap up affordable, inspirational prints and artwork for your home online, with new and exciting artists being added all the time. Collaborative photography duo French Cowboy – also known as Mia Macfarlane and Julien Crouigneau – believe it’s another step towards contemporary fashion photography receiving the recognition it deserves as an art form in the mainstream.
How did French Cowboy start?
It all began when Mia and I were on our first holiday together. We were in Mallorca and came up with this strange character: a French cowboy who tries his best to be a real cowboy. We spent our entire vacation imagining awkward, funny, incredible situations for him. It was the first story we ever created together, so we decided to keep the name.
What are your creative backgrounds?
Mia: I studied fine art in college. I was never able to choose one medium, so I took classes in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, computer art and sculpture. But it was not until I met Julien that I became a photographer. I also worked for magazines as an art director.
Julien: I was a graphic designer and a product designer. I also worked for Philippe Starck for a while, as well as for several magazines as an art director.
How would you describe your creative process?
In the words of Henri-georges Clouzot, ‘To make a film you need: firstly, a good story; secondly, a good story; thirdly, a good story.’ We always start with the story.
How does fashion influence you?
Fashion is the artist’s colour palette that allows us to tell the story we want to tell. Fashion inspires us, but we are not driven by trends. When we saw Guo Pei’s show in 2017, we could visualise the photos we wanted to take as the show happened. Her Legend collection was inspired by European iconography, with sculptural dresses in the shapes of a Fabergé egg, a papal statue, fairytale queens… but we saw a royal garden with insects and animals. After the show we went to our contact and friend Bin Y Toh and begged him to let us shoot the gowns. A month later we had the shoot organised, with insects and taxidermy birds to go with our vision.
Do you have a favourite tonal range you like to play with?
We definitely prefer cooler colours. We set our white balance on both of our cameras to be just slightly blue. We are attracted to the dramatic and yet calming quality of it. Cool hues work great on our graphic location shoots – we’ve shot in chateaux, helipads, quarries, engines and aeroplanes.
Tell us about a favourite project
The Sock It! collection is one of our favourites. It was shot over time; whenever we came up with an idea we would shoot it. We have a friend, Laura, who has incredible legs – she was always ready to let us stick her in a washing machine, or in the engine of an aeroplane. The shoot is inspired by pop culture. We had so much fun coming up with ideas. There are at least 20 Sock It! images and each one stands alone and tells its own story.