Image Makers

Summertime for us was a wild, intense time of work and play as we geared up for our fourth edition of Image Makers — our largest edition to date. The yearly issue is always an exciting and intimidating opportunity to draw a list of some of the most daring and innovative artists working in fashion today. We’re sharing with you just a slice of that list, one we think speaks to the collaborative labor and true love that go into making memorable images.

No one quite encompasses the interdisciplinary nature and group effort of making art like Humberto Leon. When we called him to see what he was up to, his answer was both surprising and not at all: He had been working as the creative director for Katseye, a global K-Pop group. Leon, known for co-founding Opening Ceremony, is a multi-hyphenate. In his words, everything he does is really about “doing something for culture.” His latest job is no different, as Julissa James makes clear in her delightful piece that follows the Katseye members and their “fashion fairy godfather,” Leon, over two days.

The quality and reach of what you create are always greater when you open doors and allow others into your process. This is one of many profound takeaways from artist Maria Maea’s interview with Zerina Akers, stylist to Beyoncé and other stars. Sometimes those collaborations are more intimate, as is the case with Zana Bayne and Bustedbrand, two designers working in leather and latex who met and fell in love and have since been in a flourishing creative partnership. And sometimes those collaborations cross borders, as in Eric Solis’ photos connecting two brands and cities: the L.A.-based Planeta and Mexico City-based Wavey. We don’t need to tell you that L.A.’s cultural presence is, of course, global. In a special series, our fashion director at large, Keyla Marquez, went to Paris and styled Vincent Frederic-Colombo of C.R.E.O.L.E. and Claudia Rivera, two artists with unique takes on how to tell stories with fashion.

In putting together this issue, we had the privilege of getting an intimate glimpse into the fun, sweat and mess of making images with image makers. Stylist Ann-Marie Hoang pulled out her favorite items from her closet, and Natasha Newman-Thomas, a costume designer for film and TV, styled herself with different characters in mind. Prada shared the painstaking process of embroidering a dress made of ribbons, and Guillermo Cuevas of Dunrite Leatherworks revealed his designs for the perfect studded belt. And in a particularly moving project, photographer Emanuel Hahn reimagined what beauty pageants were like in L.A.’s Koreatown in the 1980s and ’90s, following the contestants from glam to stage.

We see this issue as a collaborative effort in itself, and in this spirit, we landed on four beautiful covers (take a look at the last page in your copy). We hope you enjoy the fourth Image Makers as much as we enjoyed making it.

Elisa Wouk Almino
Editorial Director

Image logo by Zoe-Zoe For The Times