12ozProphet

to me, fabien baron encompasses everything i look to in successful art direction: clear concise vision, the ability to create a clear stamp of his voice upon the work he creates while letting enough of the brands voice to shine as to not seem bullishly overbearing, and an ability to combine explorative/daring design with a sense of minimal order and refined typographic application. his work for luxury brands such as calvin klein, balenciaga, miu miu and michael kors alongside editorial work for french vogue, harpar’s bazaar (some his most celebrated work to date, his redesign there is heralded as bringing a new look and voice to modern luxury editorial design) as well as recent and previous work for interview magazine establishes himself firmly as one of, in my opinion, the great all time art directors - alongside other personal favorites whom i will no doubt mention in due time here. aside from art direction of some of the greatest modern photographers in fashion editorial and having a clear handle on typography and layout, he is a pretty accomplished photographer in his own right.

i found out a bit ago that fabien was leaving andy warhol’s interview magazine along with editor karl templer. this came as a surprise to me given the fact that they just did a complete redesign and editorial restructuring, top to bottom, with fabien as the editorial director. i know i am not alone in saying this, but i very much look forward to seeing where they head next… be it w magazine, american vogue, their own startup, or any other of the rumors that seem to be floating around at the moment…

great feature on nytimes from a while back
baron & baron

more work images below…

spreads from french vogue:

spread from harper’s bazaar:

d&g book:

a few identities you may be familiar with…