Sam Shahid’s Apartment in Greenwich Village
"As an art director, Sam Shahid composes pictures that make you stop and look: a young couple, nude, on the back of an elephant; a tangle of men engaged in a game of sexual Twister. His provocative advertisements for Calvin Klein, Banana Republic and Abercrombie & Fitch stirred controversy throughout the ’80s and ’90s, paving the way for a more open-minded approach to branding and inspiring countless imitators drawn to his spare aesthetic. Shahid, in his uniform of khakis and a crisp white shirt, describes his style as American Pure. I always use the words ‘simplicity’ and ‘direct’, he says.
To enter Shahid’s three-story prewar apartment in Greenwich Village is to understand those words, and to get the sense that success has bought him something else: silence. In a way, it is a reaction to the demanding whirl of fashion. He has created a nearly empty setting in which even his most soul-satisfying possessions — books, art — are banished from sight behind doors that blend seamlessly with the walls. It’s as though he has chosen to contain his passions in order to clear his head and, at the same time, draw out the openness of the space."
Text Cathy Horyn
Photography François Halard
Reposted from T-Magazine
Full article here >
