LEFT: View on Obélisque de Louxor, from Place de la Concorde.
RIGHT: Nicolas Huchard, dancer. make-up Tiina Roivanen.

“Paris is dead,” Parisians love to complain. The golden age is over. But is the spotlight is moving on, away from the City of Lights ?

Photography by René Habermacher.
Styling by Kanako B. Koga.
Concept by Antoine Asseraf.

LEFT
: Aymeric Bergada du Cadet, stylist. hair Leslie Thibaud. make-up Carole Hannah.
RIGHT: View on Arche de la Défense, from Avenue Charles de Gaulle.

LEFT: View on Arc de Triomphe, from Avenue des Champs-Élysées. 
RIGHT: Mariah Morrison, model. hair Leslie Thibaud, makeup Tiina Roivanen.

Paris is no longer the center of the world, and it is no longer the capital of a colonial empire – it disappeared, and in 1968 Parisians turned the page. It is not the center of the intellectual world – there is no tangible center any more, it has migrated online. It is not even the number one tourist destination anymore – that’s London. Thanks, Eurostar.

Dubai, Brooklyn, London, L.A., Berlin, Shanghai… that’s where it’s happening now, allegedly. Even the croissant, the Parisian symbol par excellence: gone on a sexcapade to NYC to produce the Cronut. But only a city with so much to start with could have so much to lose.

“But only a city with so much to start with could have so much to lose.”

LEFT: Mikael Marvyn Leogane, actor. hair Miharu Oshima, makeup Carole Hannah. 
RIGHT: View on Opéra Garnier, from Avenue de l’Opéra.

LEFT: Tako, model. hair Leslie Thibaud makeup Tiina Roivanen. 
RIGHT: View on Tour Eiffel, from Place du Trocadéro.

Could this “death of the city” simply a byproduct of the internetisation of life ? When you meet people and experience culture online, what does a city bring ?
Why endure high rents and short days if the pay-off is gone ? Is this only happening in Paris ?

Whatever the answer, make no mistake, Paris was never an easy city. It’s always been more about Death than the Dolce Vita.

“Make no mistake, Paris was never an easy city. It’s always been more about Death than the Dolce Vita.”

François Sagat, actor and entrepreneur. makeup Carole Hannah.

Maria Loks, model. hair Leslie Thibaud, makeup Tiina Roivanen.

Living in Paris is about facing on a daily basis the crushing weight of history.
Everywhere your eye rests, famous names act as reminders that you have not made it yet, and question whether you ever will.
What will your great contribution be before you die ?

Panthéon, Montmartre, Père Lachaise… the cemeteries are a who’s who of the life of the city, as much an attraction as the Eiffel tower, and as much of a pull as anything being currently done.

So let us break the taboo. His death, your death, my death. Let us talk about death, so that we may better talk about life.

“So let us break the taboo. His death, your death, my death. Let us talk about death, so that we may better talk about life.”

LEFT: Inès Kokou, singer. hair Leslie Thibaud makeup Tiina Roivanen. 	 	 
RIGHT: View on Pyramide du Louvre, from Cour Carrée du Louvre.

LEFT: View on Pont Neuf, from Pont des Arts. 	 	 
RIGHT: Agathe Rousselle, actress and designer. shirt Cheeky Boom. hair Miharu Oshima makeup Carole Hannah.

Maria Loks, model. hair Leslie Thibaud, make-up Tiina Roivanen.

LEFT: View on Colonne de Juillet, from Place de la Bastille. 	 	 
RIGHT: Inès Kokou, singer. hair Leslie Thibaud make-up Tiina Roivanen.

Is Paris Dead ?

We do not have the answer. We may never reach a conclusion. But we will start the journey of investigation. Get the pulse on this beautiful corpse or sleeping beauty, whichever it is. Meet the people who make it tick, and explore their relationship with the city.

Thomas Lagrève, dancer. hair Leslie Thibaud, makeup Tiina Roivanen.

Tako, model. hair Leslie Thibaud, make-up Tiina Roivanen.

Did they choose Paris
or did Paris choose them ?
Where is the center of Paris ?
If Paris were to die, what would they wear to its funeral ?

LEFT: View on Hôtel des Invalides, from Pont Alexandre III. 	 	 
RIGHT: Mariah Morrison, model. hair Leslie Thibaud, make-up Tiina Roivanen.

LEFT: François Sagat.	 	 
RIGHT: Nicolas Huchard, dancer. makeup Tiina Roivanen.

“But first, a new, unlikely icon for Paris: the Borniol.”

But first, a new, unlikely icon for Paris: the Borniol. What is Borniol ? A thick, black, velvety, technical fabric, used for centuries to kill the light. For funerals, then for photography. In a city where death and funerary rituals were omnipresent, it was essential to cover windows, mirrors, buildings in black cloth to mark the occasion.

Soon after Daguerre’s invention of photography, the need to block daylight was felt outside the funerary world: photographers and cinematographers rented the cloth.
The obscuring fabric kept the name of the most respected house in Paris – funeral, not fashion that is – still in existence today – Maison Henri de Borniol.

The Borniol is a portable negative space which, wrapped around bodies or quietly standing in the back, as a cloth or as a flag, reveals as much as it hides.  Obscuring the obvious, creating depth, focusing the attention, inviting the darkness, revealing a different picture…

“Obscuring the obvious, creating depth, focusing the attention, inviting the darkness, revealing a different picture…”

LEFT: Agathe Rousselle, actress and designer. shirt Imperial Measure. hair Miharu Oshima, make-up Carole Hannah. 	 	 
RIGHT: View on Pont Neuf, from Pont des Arts.

THANKS:
Versae @ Next Models
Muriel @ Airport Agency
Galerie Jeanroch Dard