Spike Jonze's unseen photos transformed into NY Fashion Week show
- Text by Megan White
- Photography by Opening Ceremony
For Opening Ceremony’s New York Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2015 show, designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim created not just a show, but an exhibition – collaborating with long-time friend and director Spike Jonze.
The duo created their Please Use Your Best Judgement collection around never before seen archive prints from Jonze’s collection- turning the show into a one-night-only exhibition of Jonze’s work from 1985-2005. Last season, Jonze and actor Jonah Hill created and directed a one-act play on Opening Ceremony’s origins, staged at the Metropolitan Opera House. This season, Leon and Lim have returned the favour.
Both Opening Ceremony and Jonze have woven the same unique, southern Californian counter-culture ethos throughout their work – the vibe that designers Leon and Lim grew up with in the 1980s.
The photographs feature everything from the evolution of BMXing and underground skate culture in Los Angeles, to early images of Sonic Youth and Björk. The old-school film component of Jonze’s photos inspired Leon to partner with Kodak and created sweatshirts stamped with their vintage logos.
“I’ve been hounding [Jonze] for six or seven years to show me his photo archives because I’m a photography fan and a nerd of pop culture,” Leon told Pret-a-Reporter at the show on Sunday night. “Finally after years he said, ‘Hey, it’s in a place in L.A. where we can look at it.’
“He pulled it all together and said, ‘If you want one day I’ll sit down with you and show you some stuff.’ So that moment turned into three days of us looking at photos and him walking me through moments. It started as a personal conversation between friends.”
You might like
The last days of St Agnes Place, London’s longest ever running squat
Off the grid — Photographer Janine Wiedel spent four years documenting the people of the Kennington squat, who for decades made a forgotten row of terraced houses a home.
Written by: Isaac Muk
How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s
From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Artifaxing: “We’ve become so addicted to these supercomputers in our hands”
Framing the future — Predominantly publishing on Instagram and X, the account is one of social media’s most prominent archiving pages. We caught up with the mysterious figure behind it to chat about the internet’s past, present and future, finding inspiration and art in the age of AI.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The lacerating catharsis of body suspension in Hong Kong
Self-Ferrying — In one of the world’s most densely packed cities, an underground group of young people are piercing their skin and hanging their bodies with hooks in a shocking exploration of pain and pleasure. Sophie Liu goes to a session to understand why they partake in the extreme underground practice.
Written by: Sophie Liu
What we’re excited for at SXSW 2026
Austin 40 — For the festival’s 40th anniversary edition, we are heading to Texas to join one of the biggest global meetups of the year. We’ve selected a few things to highlight on your schedules.
Written by: Huck
Capturing the spirit of the ’90s surf scene with Volcom
Nineteen 90 Nowhere — The brand’s latest Featured Artist Series collection sees them tap three surfers and artists in Gony Zubizarretta, Seth Conboy and Issam Auptel, whose neo-grunge work blends the rawness of the decade with the present.
Written by: Isaac Muk
