Photographer Sasha Samsonova is generating quite a buzz with her striking images of women who are comfortable in their own skin and unabashedly sexy. A female Helmut Newton, Sasha is all about celebrating the beauty and strength of the women who stand before her lens. 
 
Born and raised in Ukraine, Sasha is an autodidact photographer who was already shooting for Harper’s Bazaar by the time she was 17 years old, having picked up a camera after her plans to become a professional ballroom dancer fell by the wayside. But her innate understanding of how the body can express emotion in the way it moves has had a direct impact on both her photography and the films and videos she is now directing in Hollywood.
 
Sasha has worked with celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Lili Reinhart, Khloe Kardashian, Emma Roberts, and Kate Bosworth, her images have been featured in the pages of Vogue, L’Officiel, Elle, and Playboy and she has collaborated with brands such as Google, Fear of God, and Revlon. 
 
When you see Sasha’s work it’s all about sensual strength. And when you listen to her speak, you know that her goal in life is to make women feel as powerful as possible. And she has the photos to prove that she is doing exactly that.

071 Sasha Samsonova: Photographing Female Power

Guillaume Delacroix is a luxury brand whisperer. His entire career, from his early days working at Karla Otto and KCD to his time at Giorgio Armani and Balenciaga, to his current role as the founder and CEO of DLX, he has been helping leading prestige companies craft their narratives in ways that spark conversations, engage the public and create lasting impressions. 

Guillaume launched DLX nine years ago and since then he has built up a reputation in the industry for both spotting and supporting budding design talents but also for helping more established companies create bold new chapters in their brand strategy. A born storyteller, Guillaume doesn’t limit his clientele to just fashion labels but instead uses his skills to create memorable moments with a variety of companies. He has worked with everyone from Matches, and the famed Samaritaine department store in Paris to hot niche brands like Sophie Carbonari Skincare, the Zurich-based On athleticwear label and the current must-have swimwear brand Hunza G. 

The common denominator across all these companies is they are cool. And if they weren’t cool, by the time Guillaume works his magic on their brand strategy, communication rollout and event activations…well they damn sure will be.

I have known Guillaume for years and considering his impressive track record in the luxury space what still strikes me the most is how humble and self-effacing he is. I mean just Google the guy. For someone who can weave a brand narrative like nobody’s business, there is very little about Guillaume himself online. I hope this podcast will help change that. As he is one man worth knowing. 

This interview took place in June 2021

083 Guillaume Delacroix: Fashion's Badass Brand Strategist

Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, talks about his new collaboration designing costumes for the Paris Opera house, the debut of his make-up line with L'Oreal, his childhood, his friendship with Kim Kardashian and where he wants to take the Balmain brand.

001   Olivier Rousteing - The Creative Director of Balmain

Creative director and stylist Sascha Lilic is a fashion month’s fixture. His distinctive look, of a beret and monocle, always makes him easy to spot at a show. You can also always count on Sascha to give you a great sound bite about what he thinks of a presentation, and it’s often something that will make you laugh out loud or blush. Maybe it was all those years working alongside his mentor, the iconic photographer Helmut Newton, who was also known not to mince words, that formed Sascha’s talent for finding the perfect bon mots.

But to be fair, Sascha, who was born in Yugoslavia and grew up in Germany, was always fascinated by the world of fashion and its fundamental transformational properties. By the tender age of 16, he was already working as a hairdresser and make-up artist, before he finally got his first break as a stylist. And once he did, he never looked back. 

Sascha became the fashion & creative director of influential 90s era SPOON magazine before moving on to become the editor-in-chief of ABOVE magazine, which Sascha launched in 2004 and sold for a pretty penny right at the height of excess before the global recession of 2008. And since then, he has been using his talents on all sorts of different fashion fronts, as a stylist, fashion consultant, creative director...you name it...if it has to do with fashion and creativity, Sascha is your man. 

A claim that is backed up by the laundry list of publications, photographers, and celebrities he has worked with. Which include, but not limited to Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Interview, V Man, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Glamour, LʼOfficiel, and Grazia. And besides his longtime collaboration with Newton, Sascha has also teamed up with other leading photographers like Ellen von Unwerth, Norman Jean Roy, and William Klein...and I could go on. His visual eye has transformed everyone from Lana del Rey, Jessica Chastain, Sienna Miller, Rihanna, Lily James, Diane Kruger, Keira Knightley, Lea Seydoux and I could go on and on. 

So let’s just say that Sascha has quite a lot of great fashion stories to tell. Which is why I wanted to jump on a zoom call with him for this podcast. To tell us all about his extraordinary life, lived to the fullest, in fashion.

065 Sascha Lilic: The Stylist Who Tells It Like It is

The Fashion Your Seatbelt podcast gives its listeners the rare opportunity to hear from some of the leading voices working in the fashion industry today. Each podcast is an exclusive one-to-one conversation with a creative who is crafting the future of fashion. Hosted by the renowned and award-winning fashion journalist Jessica Michault, this podcast is designed to take its audience directly to the heart of fashion and discover what makes it tick.

065 Sascha Lilic: The Stylist Who Tells It Like It is

Fashion Your Seatbelt

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