Behind the scene in Bruce Weber Land - Part III

Text by Julia Chaplin

Behind the scene in Bruce Weber Land - Part III

Tranquil smiles as calm as the Mediterranean in August. Sunny eyes lit like summer itself. None of the expressions worn by the group of all American blondes perched under the Dedon Orbit’s canopy give the slightest hint of the Tempest like turbulence building all around them. Wind has started whipping white caps across the ocean and clouds cover the patches of photogenic blue sky like a toothless goalie on steroids. No problem! At least not for image deity Bruce Weber, who really does seem to have Zeus like powers over nature. It’s the second day of the Dedon spring campaign photo shoot and despite the kicked up, stormy weather sun kissed beauty is being produced.

            The concept of the shoot is top secret until the launch of Dedon’s US flagship in New York City this fall—or Weber will have my head. But I think its okay to tell you that last night a surge of waves rolled in from the Atlantic and broke apart the set; a carefully constructed barge made of recycled wood.  One part of it ended up beached on some rocks down the coast. A powerful boat came and towed the rest of the structure—with a tree in the middle and several innocent pieces of Dedon furniture-- to a protected cove.

None of which made the hulking, tanned art director Stefan Beckman very happy. Beckman who’s propped campaigns for every chic brand from Marc Jacobs to Gucci doesn’t miss a beat. In morning’s early light he and his intrepid team of prop stylists motor out to the relocated barge with a boat load of eye candy and speedily assemble the grooviest bohemian lair ever. Dedon’s Tribeca seating system, leaf chair, and a Superarchimoon floor lamp by Philippe Starck are accessorized with such vintage finds as a painting easel, leather traveler trunks, and a collection of conch shells. My favorite touch is a giant floating trampoline with a Dedon “Nest Rest” in the middle. What would happen atop of it is anyone’s guess. (Weber would arrive later in the day aboard a Zodiac motor boat, his New Balance sneakers soaked with stormy salt water, in time to snap the landing of a sea plane piloted by a handsome captain… but we’ll get back to that.)

            Meanwhile over by the rocks Weber and his army of assistants swarmed around the part of the barge that had washed ashore. It resembled a Puff Daddy music video. Waifish waiters were passing trays of cherries and chocolates. And one guy’s sole job was to cart around a Bose sound system blaring music to set the mood. Weber had chosen Amy Winehouse to fill the air with romance as models Dree Hemingway and Kyleigh Kuhn, sitting on a Dedon Orbit in bikinis, were holding purring kittens. Nearby, five male models in matching swimming trunks heaved the massive Dedon Nest pod into the air like a band of Charles Atlas’. No one even noticed the clouds.