Welcome to this ninth episode of the Dior Talks series ‘The Female Gaze’. With the term developed in response to the writings of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, this podcast series will explore how the work of the female photographers and creatives collaborating with Dior offers a radically new and progressive image of women.
In this episode, series host Charlotte Jansen, a British journalist and author, speaks with young fashion photographer Paola Vivas, who is making waves in the fashion world with her fresh, natural perspective on femininity and gender. She speaks about her unlikely move to London and the diversity of the city which she finds so inspiring and also reflects on her Mexican roots and their influence on her aesthetic. She also discusses her 2018 collaboration with Dior.
Paola Vivas was born and raised in Merida in southern Mexico, an area of great beauty with a very distinctive culture and way of life. She initially came to London for a holiday while she figured out her next move after studying fashion design in Mexico. That holiday became a permanent relocation when she signed up for a course in fashion photography at the University of the Arts, having fallen in love with the creativity and diversity of the city. Since then she has moved quickly, becoming part of a new wave of young female photographers changing the boundaries and language of the depiction of the female body and the portrayal of womanhood and gender in fashion imagery.
In this new episode, Paola Vivas tells Charlotte Jansen about her complex relationship with London and how it has changed and influenced her work over time. They talk about her experiences of lockdown as a creative and image-maker and how it has enriched her understanding of urban space and possibility. In 2018, Paola Vivas was one of a group of Mexican women photographers commissioned by Maria Grazia Chiuri to shoot the Dior Cruise 2019 collection and she chose the extraordinary location of Luis Barragán’s architectural masterpiece, Cuadra San Cristóbal, as the setting of her Dior Magazine story. She elaborates on her collaboration with Dior and the beautiful, moving homage to Mexican female artistry which resulted.
generation of young women photographers, and her collaboration with @MariaGraziaChiuri for Dior Magazine.