From street style to haute couture, Alex Très Cool makes photography his playground<

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by Lise Lanot

© Alex Very Cool

At 27, Alex Très Cool has carved out a good place for himself in the contemporary French photographic scene, taking his camera from the Parisian sidewalks to the Yard studios, passing through the surroundings of European fashion weeks.

Admitting to having "stumbled into photography a bit by chance", the one who did not see himself "especially as a creative person" delivers a polished aesthetic, combining a love of style and instinct with attention to detail and emotion. "I was at my cousin's friend's birthday party and she asked me to take the group photo. I fell in love and a few weeks later bought my own camera."

Paris Fashion Week. (© Alex Very Cool)

We had the chance to ask a few questions to Alex Dobé (in civilian life) for an uninhibited and serene exchange. Rare are the people who wear their pseudonym so well.

Konbini arts | Hi Alex, can you tell us how you got into fashion photography?

Alex Very Cool | At the very beginning, it started from Tumblr, I had come across the work of a New York photographer who took photos of the inhabitants of the city that he found stylish. I told myself that I was going to do the same thing in Paris.

That's how I started my blog "Paris Street Style": I walked around the streets of Paris and I took pictures of people whose style I liked. I met so many people that I am still in touch with today like that. I find it crazy when I think about it.

© Alex Very Cool

"It's a series of encounters and circumstances that made me work in fashion today, and now I couldn't see myself doing anything else."

How did you start photographing the surroundings of fashion shows?

I started (and still continue) as a street style photographer. One day, and when I didn't really know this universe, I took a picture of someone who told me about Fashion Week. Since then, I go out of fashion shows and I take pictures of people I find stylish. In itself, that's exactly what I did outside of Fashion Week, except that there are people who are part of this milieu, so the outfits are more sophisticated and interesting.

It was not necessarily an environment that fascinated me or that I dreamed of, before falling into it, to be honest. Thinking about it, it's a series of encounters and circumstances that made me work in fashion today, and now I couldn't see myself doing anything else.

© Alex Very Cool

“Either you are alert and you manage to have the right photo, or you are cooked!”

How does it happen concretely when you take this kind of images?

In general, in a street style setup, you don't have much time to shoot and the conditions are not the best: there are many other photographers, sometimes you only have a few seconds to take the right picture , and the weather can be capricious. I very rarely ask people to pose for me, I like the naturalness and the rush of street style. Either you're alert and you manage to have the right photo, or you're cooked!

In the end, my favorite photos are those that were taken on instinct, when I didn't think too much about the composition, or when it was done in a few seconds in my head. I think that's the case for most street style photographers, we don't have much time to think. The best ones, in this exercise, are those that give you the impression that the photo comes out of an editorial shoot (therefore prepared beforehand) when it's street style.

Milan Fashion Week. (© Alex Very Cool)

Do you have particularly striking memories of fashion weeks?

What I like the most in Fashion Week is really the rush and the adrenaline that goes with it. To run in all directions to succeed in photographing the beautiful look. A memory comes to me right away: it's the spring-summer 2019 season at the Chanel show, when we ran into Jorja Smith. She came out through a somewhat hidden place, but we were already there. When she arrived, my friend Marc-Henri Ngandu [whom we already told you about here, editor's note] started to sing one of his songs to her and she started laughing, it gave some really cool pictures!

"A good portrait makes you feel something when you look at it."

Does the choice of camera matter a lot to you?

Not at all. I've seen people do incredible things with amateur devices or, on the contrary, people with 3,000 euro devices do really bad things. Having an eye is the only thing that really matters.

Paris Fashion Week. (© Alex Very Cool)

Whether portraits or landscapes, what catches your eye?

I have a hard time defining what I find beautiful. For me, it touches a lot on the affect, on what a photo can make me feel. In portrait, it can be the look of a person or the whole set-up which served to create an atmosphere, a universe. At the moment, I have a huge fascination with the work of photographer Zhong Lin. It's art, at this level.

What is a good portrait for you?

A good portrait (or even a good photo, more generally) makes you feel something when you look at it, makes you wonder about the context or how it was taken. A good photo or a good portrait does not leave you indifferent.

Miranda. (© Alex Very Cool)

You seem to pay particular attention to detail, focusing on parts of faces, outfits, etc. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes, it's a little whim that I discovered recently, I find it super interesting what you can do by cropping a photo. By zooming in on a photo, you can discover three more. A facial expression will become stronger if it takes up the entire frame of the image, zooming in on an eye will give a rather strange, almost oppressive side. I find it strong.

Likewise, you seem to detach yourself from the rules, playing with movement and light, in particular.

Totally. Playing around with shutter speed comes from my fellow photographer Lubaki, who's been doing this for a while. It really adds a pretty artistic dimension to a photo. In general, I really like experimenting, playing with blur, colors, an optical instrument, black and white, etc. I try not to limit myself at all, to explore and test different things.

© Alex Very Cool

What do you want to convey through your images?

This question is quite funny, for me, because my answer is really different from other photographers. I do not necessarily seek to convey something with my images. When I started photography, I didn't think I was a creative person at all, so it was more a way for me to see how I could do to become one.

Let's say the message isn't directed towards people, but more towards me, in the idea of: "Look at what you can do. You can be creative!" Afterwards, I receive a lot of messages from people who tell me that what I do inspires them and I never would have thought that someone would say that to me one day. And that is really fun!

© Alex Very Cool

© Alex Very Cool

© Alex Very Cool

© Alex Very Cool

© Alex Very Cool

Milan Fashion Week. (© Alex Very Cool)

© Alex Very Cool

Miranda. (© Alex Very Cool)

Miranda. (© Alex Very Cool)

Robin. (© Alex Very Cool)

You can find Alex Très Cool's work on his Instagram account and on his website.