His new book, Fashionable Selby, documents sartorial pursuits, a world with which he’s considerably more familiar. “I’ve always been attracted to it, ever since I moved to New York in ’99,” he says. “It’s a world filled with amazing, colourful people who are making things. I was interested in making a book that featured unsung heroes, the special people that exist only in this world. And then with some of the more renowned people, I tried to show them in a different light; I show more of their process and what makes them really interesting and unique.”
He’s spent the last two years working on the book in between what he now calls his “main job”, making films and shooting commercials. “Whenever I’m not doing that I hit the ground running,” he says. “This book has been my passion project. I talk to people all the time. I was photographing for Louis Vuitton and that’s how I met Faye McLeod and Ansel Thompson [the company’s visual image director and art director].” Indeed, the three struck up a conversation on the trans-Mongolian railway; some time later he was photographing them in France for his book. “I became friends with them; they got to know what I do and gave me a unique glimpse into the LVMH window installation process,” he explains. “So everything’s related.”
Fashionable Selby is a fantastic celebration of creation. Within its pages, Selby meets designers, models, publishers, shoemakers, knitters and artistic directors – from fashion’s upper echelons to eccentric indie designers. But in Selby’s world, all are equal, and everyone and everything jumps off the page. It’s a world away from the catwalk and can be gloriously inhaled, even if you have no interest in fashion. With Selby’s handmade approach, it contrasts defiantly with the slickness of how the industry presents itself. “I have a certain way of doing things, in terms of the illustrations and that element,” he says. “It’s a very insidery book, but also outsidery.”
From Virginia Bates’s Virginia Antiques shop in Notting Hill, a Victorian gothic dream, to Isabel Marant’s pristine Paris studio, the scope is international and eclectic. Andrew Logan, a British sculptor who looks like a cross between a monk and a pimp, has made eye-popping accessories for Zandra Rhodes and Commes des Garçons, and says he works with asteroids, crystals, meteorites and glitter. In his illustrated Q&A, Selby asks him to design a church in a mountain or shrine, a Nohra suit inspired by the galaxy, and a coconut clown and label where his pants come from. “Those little hand-done interviews, although they’re sometimes simple and quite silly, give some idea of the people’s sense of humour and interests,” says Selby.
Putting the book together has rekindled his appreciation for the fashion industry, and he hopes it inspires readers to connect to the artists, to visit them or work with them. He’s already working on his next book, but he won’t say what it is yet. He talks of how he refined his remit to conceive the site back in 2008, and while it is all cohesive, he’s branching out more. Ultimately, it works because of the people, whether they’re united by food, fashion or gold miners. “There are so many interesting people and weird things happening out there, it’s just nuts. That’s what inspires me and my work.” He stays in touch with many of his subjects, creating a pretty wild extended family under the Selby banner.
He doesn’t know if he wants to venture into feature films because of the time commitment – he’s happier travelling around, shooting someone for a day, and fears he’d go crazy working on one thing for two years. The most he’s spent on anything is two weeks – on TV commercials. Considering client briefs, corporate teams and creative restrictions, does he enjoy making ads?
“Well I try to do stuff that’s rooted in the same march 2014 thing I’m interested in,” he says. “I’ve turned down a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with real people or interesting stories. I just did one for American Express, and the people in it have a small business and really cool spaces – great little local spots. They have their own thing going on. So I was really excited to do something that supported them. It’s exciting to work with big crews. They’ve been doing it forever. It’s a great learning experience for me, I love it. It’s fun.”
Fun – a word that comes up many times during our conversation. If you love your job, you’ll never work a day, and he’s certainly conquered that.
Fashionable Selby, published by Abrams & Chronicle Books (www.abramsandchronicle.co.uk), is available on their website or direct from The Selby (www.theselby.com)
First published in the March 2014 issue. You can buy the issue here.