AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS // The photography team of Inez and Vinoodh has a seemingly endless capacity to explore new visual territories.  In the early 1990s they were among the first practitioners to show the possibilities of digital-imaging technology as a creative and meaningful medium.  They developed a signature style of visual seduction paired with provocative narratives, which infused new ideas into photography.

Since the early 1990s, they have created groundbreaking editorials for such publications as American, French, Japanese and Italian Vogue, V Magazine, Visionaire, The New York Times Magazine, The Gentlewoman, and W Magazine.  Their innovative approach is also seen in campaigns and films for fashion houses including Balenciaga, Balmain, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Isabel Marant, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Valentino and Yohji Yamamoto.

Inez and Vinoodh are operating in both the art world and the fashion world simultaneously, deciding on the ideal venue for their works to appear based on it’s content. The works from either territory feed off of each other for inspiration and thus blur the boundaries between fashion and art.  They are represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York.  Their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the Hayward Gallery, London, the Deichtor hallen, Hamburg  and the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. A retrospective show of twenty five years of their collaborative work, titled PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING  1985-2010,  began its international tour at the FOAM, Amsterdam in the summer of 2010 and has since traveled to the Pavillion Bienal, Sao Paulo, the Dallas Contemporary and Fotografiska, Stockholm.  A publication with the same title was also launched in the Winter of 2011 with Taschen, as the retrospective continues to travel throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.  Also in the works is an anthology of Inez and Vinoodh’s portraiture and floral still-life photography to be published with IDEA Books.

Always experimenting with new ways to express their creativity, Inez and Vinoodh have put their current focus on jewelry with a collection of subtle statement pieces born out of love.  The collection started with a necklace that Vinoodh designed for Inez as a symbol of their love and of their son, Charles Star.  The black oxidized silver chain holds their two wedding rings intertwined (kissing) with a small star pendant.  From this base, the collection grew to include ten different precious and semi-precious stones, rings, earrings, bangles and bracelets in the oxidized silver, 18k yellow, rose and white gold.  Symbolizing love and unity in all of its splendor, the collections have also sparked an ongoing series of portraits of people who are bonded to each other in their own form of unity, be it familial, professional, emotional or otherwise.

A cornerstone of Inez and Vinoodh’s creative process has always been collaboration, as can be seen with their long-standing relationship with design superstars M/M Paris, sculptor Eugene van Lamsweerde, and Viktor & Rolf amongst others.   In 2013, the duo teamed up with Ben Gorham of Swedish fragrance powerhouse Byredo, to create their first scent, 1996.  Inspired by one of their images (taken seventeen years before the inception of the scent) entitled Kirsten, 1996, the three set out to create a fragrance to interpret the juxtaposition that exists within the photograph.  Juniper, amber, orris, violet, leather, cannabis and patchouli all combine in balance to create a delicate yet complex olfactory universe.   Originally intended to be a holiday gift for the photographers friends and family, demand dictated the fragrance be added to the Byredo catalogue and available to the public.  2014 saw the launch of the 1996 candle allowing for a part of Inez and Vinoodh’s world to be brought directly into the home.

In 2014, Inez and Vinoodh were approached by Jens Grede and Erik Torstensson of FRAME denim with the challenge to create a line of jeans for him and her that would encapsulate the spirit of their work within the context of the FRAME Denim world.  The result was a denim capsule collection that is both skinny and relaxed incorporating all of the highlights of classic denim cuts into a single pair.

For the Autumn/Winter ‘17 season, Vinoodh aligned himself with celebrated womenswear designer Nili Lotan to create the labels first foray into menswear.  The collection consists of elegant yet casual staple pieces for every man’s wardrobe.  With future projects currently in various stages of development, Inez and Vinoodh are forever working towards developing their world and finding new and innovative ways to share it.