VIVIANE SASSEN FOR ‘S MAX MARA

By Crash redaction

As the Spring/Summer campaigns are flourishing all over the web, ‘S Max Mara, the eponymous bis collection contacted Viviane Sassen, famous dutch photographer to shoot their last collection.

Shot in Greece, the directions were simple : « Evolve. Update. Adapt. Expess. Transform ». Viviane transcribed these words in a beautiful and graphic campaign, definitly capturing the mobility and easiness of the collection.

Can you tell me more about how you started with photography ?

VS : I first studied fashion for two years in Arnhem, Arts School. Then I discovered I didn’t really want to be a fashion desginer. At the time I worked as a model for Viktor & Rolf but I wasn’t very good ! I loved doing the shows though. Anyway, I met a lot of photographers and that’s how I got into it, realizing I wanted to be a photographer and not a fashion designer. Then I studied photography for four years and did a year of Fine Arts as a Master.

I saw that you worked in Africa a lot, there’s a big step between that and the fashion industry !

I was brought up in Kenya, my father worked there as a doctor and my two daughters were born there. So those were my very first childhood years that I experienced and I still have very vivid memories from this period. I think it was a great influence on my way of looking and experiencing things. Then I met my husband in 2000, his father was also a doctor in Africa and he was born in Zambia and lived in Tanzania for a long time. Then, we found out we had this mutual interest in African culture so we started travelling together !

You get very personal with the people you shoot in Africa. Is it the same way with the models you shoot for fashion ?

Sometimes. It really depends on the atmosphere, the girl… It’s all about the « clic ». It also depends if it’s an editorial or a campaign…

How do you pick the designers you work with ? Do you have criterias that make you say yes, or no ?

Kind of… I have my own preferences but I also have to pay the rent… And sometimes it’s also good to work for a client who’s more commercial. In the past, I wouldn’t have done it, but now I enjoy it as well. Of course, editorials are great, they give you so much freedom to experiment, and that’s what makes it fun ! Working for commercial clients allows me to produce my own personal work, and finance it. Which is great. I also like to solve puzzles, you know ? If I really don’t like a brand and having a hard time, I won’t do it again. But if the people are nice and the atmosphere is good, then it’s great and exciting to make this puzzle, to make beautiful images but at the same time think of what the brand needs.

And how did you end up collaborating with Max Mara ? 

They asked me ! They started collaborating with two new art directors, which is new for them, and these two got me on board ! They suggested me as a photographer to S’ Max Mara, and I think the whole brand needed a new turn around, a new spirit. Then, they asked me and I just said yes !

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Rodrigue Martinez

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