INTERVIEW: BILL GEORGOUSSIS talks to FILEP MOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, Bill Georgoussis, is in my opinion the only Greece-based Greek who actually managed to enter, what we call, the International Fashion Scene and become a real part of it. Most of who he is revealed through the following interview, either in my questions or in his answers. Bill wanted me to visit him at his house, before he answered my questionnaire. I saw it as the perfect opportunity for me to get to know him better. His apartment is located just behind the Zappion and to be honest I have never seen anything like it. To enter his home door, one needs to pass through a garden of exotic man-sized plants placed carefully in an open corridor. When we finally had to sit on his Mac, to make a selection of the images featured in ISTEROGRAFO, I came to realize that his work is not simply photographer, he is actually a painter. I have never seen such harmony of color, shade and shape all in one…

 

FilepMotwary: The first impression one gets when meeting you for the first time is that you are a shy, quiet person. Is this true?

BillGeorgoussis: Shy? Quiet? Some of my friends will not agree but they have known me a long time. It takes me a while to be at ease with new people…with work I am very different; I have to go into a room or a studio with people I hardly know and get the best out of them immediately. You have a day or two to perform and put people in a relaxed mood to give their best…in my private life it takes a lot more effort from me to introduce myself to people.

 

FilepMotwary: Do you think that you work is different when working for a foreign magazine compared with what you present in the Greek editorials?

BillGeorgoussis The requirements are different everywhere. Unfortunately Greece has become an industry run by advertising departments and media shops. There is an intentional dumping down of the content in most (not all) magazines. Photographers and stylists are obliged to conform to remedial demands, but it is also our own faults that we do not fight it…I suppose I manage to feed my creative appetite with some of the foreign publications I work for. However there are some Greek magazines which ask me to produce the work I do for the foreign ones…when they have this desire and they work as hard to produce those results themselves, it happens…in other words, it takes the whole team to produce those results. In

London and in Paris the stylists I work with ussually don't get money from editorials and

yet they work even harder. If you don’t chase to work for your dream magazines you just end up doing everything as “a job”…every day I go to a shoot in Greece I always try to do something a bit different than the previous time…this is my philosophy with foreign magazines too…ultimately it the only thing I can be sure to achieve.

 

FilepMotwary: You contribute for some of the most important “Fashion Bibles” of the world: Dazed n’ Confused, i-D, Arena Homme Plus, 10, Numero, Jalouse…Do you ever sit back and try to be the spectator of your own life’s scenario and see the things that you have accomplished so far?

BillGeorgoussis: When I see it written down it hits home. When you are just chasing all your goals from day to day you just see it as a step at a time…with some of these magazines the contribution has been major but other times minor, so I know the reality and I remind myself that careers go up and down. Growing up I used to buy all the magazines and memorize the photographers and stylists I admired…I wanted to see my name next to those who were my heroes…having achieved this at times is a great reward.

 

FilepMotwary: You have a very close relationship with Sophia Kokosalaki. Since 1999 you are the artistic director for her shows in Paris, plus maybe the first person she always asks for his opinion.How is this working for you?

BillGeorgoussis :When we first started asking each other’s opinions about our work many years ago the answers were mostly instinctive because we were both collecting experience daily. We were learning that we had a different way of doing things to the people we were meeting every day but this is what made us stand out. Sophia’s abilities and talent were obvious from far back and it is flattering that part of my aesthetic contributed to hers, as hers has to mine…there is a blatant honesty between us which isn’t always what you want to hear but it has saved us both a few times from disasters. This has taught me to be more critical of myself I suppose. Also, this support we have shown for each other has created a wall which people in the industry respect.

 

FilepMotwary: How does your work help the “clothes” and vice versa? What was it like for you to shoot the Madeleine Vionnet look-books this season? Even Karl Lagerfeld admitted that Vionnet has inspired most of the fashion designers of our times. Was it a heavy task for you?

BillGeorgoussis: Well knowing that a lot of people would be seeing the results and not only judging the clothes but the aesthetic of the “new” Vionnet was a bit unsettling …effectively the look book served as a campaign because they were the first pictures to circulate to all the vogues and internet sites…I was shocked as to how much they were in demand. We worked really hard to produce over 30 pictures in one day and not in a traditional» against a white wall” way. Sophia styled it herself and we shot it in a great location in Paris

It was fun working with Sophia as a stylist again after quite a few years.

 

FilepMotwary: Some people say that a stylist’s contribution in a photo shoot may be the A to Z for a good result. Yet, we have photographers like Juergen Teller of Terry Richardson that (sort of) became famous for being “snappers”. What do you say about this? How does a stylist need to function with you, to get your vision right?

BillGeorgoussis:Terry and Juergen may appear to be non stylist led but quite often their work is more stylist led. Styling is far more than clothing; a good stylist is part art director and even part photographer. A stylist is the first person you ask for an opinion on a shoot. Juergen’s wife Venetia Scott famously directed him into the direction he still follows and Terry is amazing at capturing “style”. His pictures see the humour in what we wear and why we wear it…stylists give him subject matter.

 FilepMotwary: What would be the ideal future of fashion for you?

BillGeorgoussis: More young people taking control of the industry back from the Gucci groups and the LVMH’s

FilepMotwary: Although you are a world traveler, you confided to me that you plan to buy a house in Athens. Why Athens? Why do you feel this need to have a base anyway?

BillGeorgoussis : I have always had a base somewhere and it is vital for my sanity…somewhere you need a normal life. At some point London after 10 years was no longer normal.

Athens is a place that I can find normality. Paris fashion week is NOT normal. The house in Athens

is the perfect turn-around point for me and will give me the peace of mind to travel.

 

FilepMotwary: How do you see the Hellenic Fashion week and the designers who present their collections in Athens?

BillGeorgoussis : This is hard to answer because I only want to encourage people in this industry. I see that London almost has no need for a fashion week anymore and I have to doubt the existence of a Greek fashion week(?). Its problem is the lack of government backing of an industry and the educational system to create designers. Greece should be building its fashion and art schools first and be worrying about fashion weeks later. I respect the people, who are trying to put these events together because it is really hard work, but the corporations that are sponsoring these events are taking advantage of the sweat of a lot of young people and are the only ones really benefiting through advertising.

FilepMotwary: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

BillGeorgoussis: Still working with interesting people who inspire me .

FilepMotwary: Lets say that tomorrow you are commissioned to shoot the YSL campaign and the company comes to you without a concept. How would you do it?

BillGeorgoussis : As I said before I approach each project slightly different to before…the conceptualizing of a campaign is a long process and I can only be sure that I would do something which pays homage to YSL himself…

 FilepMotwary: What would be your advice to young people who want to get involved in fashion? Ok, they need to love it…but…what else?

BillGeorgoussis: Be a magnet and sponge of everything going on and don’t judge it too much- at the beginning you are developing an aesthetic. This comes from a lot of different places and a lot of stuff you do at the begging is junk, but really important junk, which will later give you all the ideas that will make you who you are.

NOTE: The copyrights and published images of this interview belong to Filep Motwary /Un nouVeau iDEAL