We wanted to use the environment and create a world in the environments that are accessible in Florida like the swamp. For me it is always about storytelling. So Ryan and I sent each other all of these pictures of these boys who make construction, fishing or struggle with gators. We felt that Travis' body and his personality could handle all of this.
Right, it can be a challenge to style athletes that normally do not fit in standard fashion samples. But in this case you used his body as an advantage. There is a lot of bare chest in this shoot.
We wanted to make sure that fashion can emphasize its physicality, not the other way around. If you have a model or even someone who is on average size, someone who is not in the NFL is usually more about fashion. But this time we had to turn it over and do it about the physicality and accentuation of physicality and discretion of history.
There is a lot to unpack from the shoot, but let's start with the cover in which he is on the flyboard in the boxers and the Prada vest. How did this picture come together?
It was really difficult to find out how to do it, because at first we thought he should have a lifestyle. So we turned to a few people to see if they could make us a fashion that could be fashion. In the end he didn't have to wear, but when I started, I thought that the Prada vest would be really cool. And we wanted the cover to feel like something that we had never seen before. And I mean, he is a damned athlete. I think he trained for 15 minutes and then he just got up and started doing this shit. It was somehow incredible. Here, too, it was all about his physicality and what he can do as a athlete. Much of it rode on him and we were only so that we see the action.
As is well known, Travis does not work with a stylist and buys a lot for himself. What was his role in styling process?
He was so much fun. He was like I don't care. I'll do that. And you know that in recent years we have seen this influx of athletes who wanted to be more fashionable, and the tunnel walks have become an icon, so I expected it to have an opinion, and it was just so to the experiment. And you also have to think that was right after these Pictures came out He and the people talked about how he was not in the best form. And I think the shooting of him is a bit raw and shows the body in which he is located almost like a fuck youou for the critics, which I thought was really, very, very, very powerful.
Do you follow football?
I understand football, but what I understand more than sport is pop culture. So I leave that of the guide.
How has the swamp scene sunk? There is a picture of Travis who holds an alligator, but was there in the swamp that they had to watch out for?
Abso-Fuckin '-Luth. We were in Mack's Fish Camp, which is led by these two boys, and the property has been in her family for five generations. So you know the animals and know exactly what you do and what not. They jumped into the water with the alligators. And they had a wild pig.
What was the deal with the pig?
It was your pet pig! And they brought this alligator out of the house. That was your pet.
Oh, wow. I assumed that we rented the gator for the shoot.
No no. They had it. So you walked around this pig with horns, and you looked at these alligators for the pig that was waiting for their moment.
I assume that they didn't get into the swamp, but I noticed that one of her Hermès bags with Travis came into the swamp. Tell me about this shot.
I keep laughing because you always bring me back to the day. When we had the adaptation, I thought we needed a comparison between this really French and really upper and really luxurious object with something that, as you know, is the opposite. I thought it would create an astonishing picture to bring these worlds together. I wanted to shoot it so much that I flew my assistant from La in La with this bag. And it is also the Hermès Hac 60, the largest version of the bag, and also super rare. And I thought he only holds this bag with his frame … and when we shot it? It was magical.