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Inez & Vinoodh at Gagosian Paris: Bigger is Better

Inez & Vinoodh
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Inez & Vinoodh
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Inez & Vinoodh
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Inez & Vinoodh at Gagosian Gallery
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Inez & Vinoodh
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Inez & Vinoodh
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Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh at Gagosian Gallery
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh at Gagosian Gallery
Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh

On most days, the largest photos any of us are looking at are iPhone-width—unless the new W arrived in the mail, or you're in Times Square. So there's something sort of surreal about standing in the middle of an enormous white cube with larger-than-life portraits boxing you in on all sides. Of course, at Inez and Vinoodh's show opening at the Gagosian Gallery in Paris on Saturday night, you were hardly alone. Everyone was there: Emmanuelle Alt, Stefano Pilati, Lou Doillon, Caroline de Maigret, Arizona Muse...and it wasn't even fashion week. I've been in Paris for an extra-special Top Shelf shoot (!), some meetings, pharmacy raiding, and probably more shopping than was good was for me. But seeing this show might have been the highlight of my trip. The Dutch duo combed their archive to create a handful of triptychs: Lady Gaga (as Joe Calderone) flanked by a photo of the back of Drew Barrymore's head and, on the other side, a handful of Lily of the Valley [4]; Freja in all her “Am I a boy or a girl?” glory sandwiched between a black-and-white nude and three yellow roses [5]... It's the first time Inez and Vinoodh—art/life collaborators for 25 years—are revealing their flower “portraits?” but most of the other prints will be familiar to those who've followed their work in Vogue Paris, Self Service , V, and other publications over the last ten years. And the fact that a “fashion' image from eight years ago can still look completely modern—and give you goosebumps when you're trying to play it cool in front of Lou—is exactly why these two can have an 'art' show at Gagosian in the first place. Google the exhibit—and enjoy these teensy iPhone snaps—but know that seeing the pictures huge is a whole other story.

—Emily Weiss

'Inez & Vinoodh' is open through March 9, 2013 at the Gagosian Gallery in Paris (4 rue de Ponthieu).