Termination of Employment

Set in a minimal setting with rigid lines, created by set designer Jamie Brougham, “Termination of Employment” is the artistic representation of the search for one's personality in a totally depersonalized world.

Shot by Akira Trees, with the help of assistant Alfie Bungay and styled by Elodie Purcell, with the help of assistant Zoe Glanville, this series of photos is directed by Sole Rep, with a layout by Beatrice Panero.

The models, Cosima and Ellie, their hair and makeup respectively by Matt Cahill and Hiromi Iizuka, interact with the few elements present in the space: the chairs. For avant-garde painters such as Modigliani, Picasso and Boccioni, the chair is the symbol of welcome, respect, responsibility but also a way to face difficulties. In Umberto Boccioni's "Plastic Synthesis of a Seated Person", the unstructured forms and the woman’s lost gaze are the same as the protagonists of these photos. In one of the photos, a Pronounce coat and John Lobb's shoes have lost their owner: they are seated, objects without soul, without life. A second skin waiting for someone else to impersonate it.

Wearing tuxedos, oversized shirts, moccasins and minimal pieces from the collections of, among others, Esaú Yori, Nanushka, Palmer Harding and Sonia Carrasco, the girls seem stationary in time and space, they meditate, with their eyes looking directly at the camera.

“Termination of Employment” is a set of symbols, allegories, which must raise a question: who are we today? Who will we be tomorrow?

Photography: Akira Trees / a.trees

Styling: Elodie Purcell / elodiegabrielle

Creative Direction: Sole Rep / solerepltd

Models: Ellie Delmonte @Milk Management

Cosima @Milk Management

Set design: Jamie Brougham / jamiebrougham

Hair: Matt Cahill / cahillhair

Make up: Hiromi Iizuka / hiromiiixxx

Photo assistant: Alfie Bungay

Styling assistant: Zoe Glanville

Layout: Beatrice Panero / pane.nero