Within the pantheon of style pictures, Paolo Roversi occupies a spot all his personal. This weekend, the Palais Galliera will inaugurate the biggest monograph ever devoted to the Italian-born, Paris-based photographer, a compilation of 140 photos—a lot of that are exhibited right here for the primary time—culled from a half-century’s price of archives in Roversi’s famed Studio Luce within the 14th arrondissement.

Headlined by a 2015 portrait of Molly Bair carrying a Chanel costume, hat, and flamboyant pink wig, the present explores Roversi’s pioneering work and, significantly, felicitous accidents with the then-revolutionary Polaroid; his decades-long Nudi collection—beginning with a younger Inès de la Fressange in 1983, by means of to Stella Tennant, Amber Valletta, Kate Moss, and others, an endeavor that will probably be unimaginable to drag off as we speak; and the way the photographer helped to outline the visible id of homes like Dior, Yohji Yamamoto, Cerruti, and Comme des Garçons. Echoing Roversi’s studio, the scenography strikes from shadow to gentle in a non-linear staging with notable cameos by now-fashion royalty like Naomi Campbell, Natalia Vodianova, and Rihanna.

“What’s at all times fascinating about nice artists in style is that Paolo is on the coronary heart of the business, and on the identical time he doesn’t observe the tendencies of style,” provided Miren Arzalluz, director of the Musée Galliera. “He’s a person of music, artwork, and profound tradition, and he treats style that manner, as tradition.” It was solely after selecting the picture of Bair, she added, that the Galliera employees realized that the costume was additionally already within the archives. “Mainly the museum has develop into his studio,” she provided. “[Bair] seems to be like she is inviting you into his world.”