Fashion Eye Mexico

Being a border state of funereal folklore, Mexico could only bring pleasure to Deborah Turbeville (1932-2013). “This country is constantly sending me a message,” said the protégée of Richard Avedon, having crisscrossed its land, deeply attuned to its “textures” and the “sensations” it gave her. In 1986, she fell in love with an 18th-century convent in San Miguel de Allende, a colonial city perched on the high plateaus of Guanajuato. There, surrounded by dogs, birds, ex-votos, candles and ageless furniture, Turbeville chose to live and create, when not racing off to Saint Petersburg, New York, Paris or Krakow. The mysteries of Casa No Name are revealed in a souvenir album combining portraits, details and landscapes of faded allure. Fishermen from the island of Janitzio, a barber from the Pátzcuaro market, street children from San Cristóbal de Las Casas, wild goats, protective Holy Virgin figures – the subjects and scenes flicker past as in a dream or movie. Because everything “intermingles” in the world of this woman who mistreated her toned, scratched, torn, copied, pasted, annotated prints, pale reflections of an “imperfect past” alive with magic. Among the ruins of Mineral de Pozos – one of her favorite settings, as it reminded her of Rossellini’s work – Turbeville captured Sônia Braga in a trance and a native woman in a black Prada suit for Vogue Italia. She also shot the film Night Cry (2012) there, six minutes of day-for-night imagery in which macabre visions rife with religious iconography assail a tortured soul at the wheel of his pickup truck. Inspired by the House's travel heritage, the Louis Vuitton Fashion Eye collection evokes cities, regions or countries through the eyes of fashion photographers, from emerging talents to industry legends. Each title in the series features an extensive selection of large-format photographs, together with biographical information and an interview with the photographer or a critical essay. After the Louis Vuitton City Guides and Travel Books, this third collection presents travel photography with a fashion perspective, as the chosen photographers all infuse their images of great cities, faraway places or dream destinations with their unique vision.