Search this site

Playful Photos of Fashion Models in Their Own Homes

By Ellyn Kail on November 12, 2014

Cybele_Malinowski_02

Elouise Morris at her family home in the hills of Avoca

Cybele_Malinowski_12

Suzi Leenaars in Manly, Sydney

Cybele_Malinowski_05

Tiernan Cowling in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles

For Model-Maison, Australian fashion and music photographer Cybele Malinowski captures international models in their own homes, lifting the commercial veil that so often surrounds them to reveal distinctive nuances of character and personal style.

Malinowski began Model-Maison in Sydney with models she knew, but the project soon led her around the globe to fashion hot-spots including London, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Ukraine. As word of mouth spread from model to model, the artist eventually paired up with Sydney-based modeling agencies that have helped her to discover subjects with a refined yet edgy sense of personal style. While looking for models, Malinowski explains, she keeps an eye out for those who live in unusual and scenic areas; her photos of Rebecca Moore in the Australian Blue mountains remain some of her favorites to date.

For Malinowski, each shoot unfolds unpredictably, and she enters each home without any fixed notions of how to proceed. She begins the day by getting the know each young woman over hair and makeup and by raiding her closet, selecting garments that speak to the model’s personality. Together with her subjects, the photographer goes from room to room, picking out scenes and outfits that tell the story of who each woman is beneath all the glitz and glamor of advertising imagery.

In a world wherein the ideal model conforms to the visions of leading brands, Malinowski works against the grain, encouraging her subjects to let loose and embrace what makes them different. Where models existed once as mere objects of fantasy, she gives them a voice while maintaining the mystery and heightened aesthetics that makes the world of fashion so alluring. Existing at the border of fiction and daily reality, Malinowski’s images gift her models with the opportunity to play. She tells Feature Shoot that her subjects often tell her that the Model-Maison shoots are their favorites of their career. Says the artist, “They say [this] because I asked them what they want to do. No one has ever asked what they want.”

Information on each model can be found at Model-Maison. For more, follow Malinowski on Instagram.

Cybele_Malinowski_03