“An Energy, an Elegance, a Body Altogether, No Name”—Dominique Vinant on Casting for Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, and Yohji Yamamoto in the ’90s

Study, a quarterly magazine launched last year by Christopher Niquet, devotes each issue to a specific subject that he has a close connection to, including the work of the playwright Adrienne Kennedy, the stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington, the photography of the model Vivienne Rohner, or even more atmospheric themes like New York homes, or the architecture of Dakar as seen through the eyes of photographer Romain Laprade. The latest issue, ‘On Models As Cultural Markers,’ is inspired by the work of Dominique Vinant, a casting director who in the ’90s worked with Martine Sitbon, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, and Yohji Yamamoto—designers known for seeking to create a completely self-contained universe on their runway that is also a reflection of their own communities, their very specific place in the world. Vinant began working in PR, first as Alexander de Betak’s assistant, and later by opening the first Karla Otto office in Paris; and she became a casting director “by accident.”

“The way I arrived in fashion was really just following my instincts, there weren’t any plans,” Vinant explained via Zoom from Paris. “It’s really just the storyline of my life and people I met, and I’ve been lucky enough to meet Margiela and walk for him when I was young and then work with him.” As such, she has really never been about casting the latest, biggest, It-model, or one that fits the most straightforward category of “beautiful,” but rather about finding personalities, women whose specific “energies” match that of each designer. In the latest issue of Study, her casting Polaroids float on a white page, the gazes of the models drawing you in, like you’re in a museum. Vinant often talks about emotion when describing her work, and it’s impossible not to feel something when looking at her images as well. For those us that have grown up looking at runway images and fashion magazines, they are also the faces that have defined a specific kind of womanhood and femininity, their off-kilter beauty, and it has to be said, their vibes, a reminder that another way to live in the world is possible.

After taking a step back in recent years, Vinant is casting Yohji Yamamoto’s show in Paris this season. We spoke two days before the show.

How did working on this issue of Study come about?
Christopher is a friend. We met in fashion a long time ago, and he was always very curious about my Polaroids; I would always tell him, one day I will do a book. Last February, he contacted me through Instagram—I’m really old school and I just started using Instagram two years ago because people said if you want to go back to fashion, then you need to be on it. So I just put some little things that said ‘OK, I’m here.’ So he contacted me and said ‘Do you still have your Polaroids? Because I want to do something on Study.’

What was your process for editing the Polaroids that appear in the issue?
I really let Christopher do it. He is a good friend and I was totally confident in him. I had boxes, everything very well-classified by names and models so it was really easy. He came to see me in Marseille. He chose what he liked and he went back to Paris.

Dominique Vinant walking the Ann Demeulemeester spring 1997 show.
“[Ann Demeulemeester] saw me across a room in 1997, when I was working at Michèle Montagne, her PR at the time. I had a Patti Smith kind of haircut, and because of it, she asked me to model in her show.” — From Study Magazine Issue No. 8

Photo: Condé Nast Archive

Lara Stone
“Lara did really few shows, she never really liked doing shows, but Anne loved her so much and she always did Ann’s shows. If I remember correctly, Lara is a size 37, and no one ever had shoes [her size] and she was fed up. Walking is so important when you do a show and if you don’t have the right shoes, it’s terrible. And Ann always had shoes for Lara.”

Photo: Dominique Vinant for Study Magazine

When you look through them, do they bring up memories for you?
The memories are really the energy of the girls. When I was doing these castings, Martin [Margiela] was really about the energy, the story of the girl. But it’s also about the clothes—the woman is important but the clothes have to go perfectly on the runway. The work with Margiela was very specific—it was the way they were walking, their body, and also how they walked when they were ‘hidden’. It’s an energy, an elegance, a body altogether, no name.