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Martin Parr, the renowned British photographer and president of Magnum Photos, is wearing his only piece of designer clothing when we meet: a Paul Smith sweater. “It was in the sale. I would never pay full price!” he tells the Cut. “That jumper is the only thing I’ve ever bought consciously that I knew the label of — as opposed to walking into a shop because it’s next to the bank.”

 

Parr is not a fashion fan, and not known as a fashion photographer, yet he has worked on numerous fashion projects — from going backstage at John Galliano’s last Dior show to shooting Cara Delevingne for Ponystep. He’s friendly with Smith, and shot Paul Smith @ Ilford, for which he photographed ordinary people wearing the fall-winter 2007 collection on the streets of suburban Essex. The images lack the glamour and polish that we associate with fashion shoots, and that’s exactly what makes them recognizably his.

 

This week, Phaidon is publishing a second edition of the monograph Martin Parr. It’s a huge, full-color volume that covers his career as a photographer, curator, filmmaker, and collector since the 1970s, over the course of which he has published more than 70 books, made eight films, and exhibited all over the world.

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I meet Parr at his London studio, surrounded by three young employees who never seem to stop laughing. There’s a lot of joking that one assistant — “Louis the Ladder” — was hired because he’s tall enough to reach the high shelves. Then somebody hands me a rare and incredibly unappetising recipe book that Parr tracked down on eBay — Be Bold With Bananas, published by South Africa’s Banana Control Board in the 1970s. “I’m going to revive it. My next book is going to be published by the Banana Control Board,” he jokes.

 

Parr's photography is “a study of what happens when we try to make our lives less ordinary,” says Val Williams, author of the latest book, who is Parr's close friend. Parr — unlike, say, Tim Walker or Steven Meisel — is not concerned with creating a fantasy. Instead, he documents our mundane attempts to transform our lives with vacations, food, and shopping. You can see this theme in his famous 1980s work The Last Resort, which shows holidaymakers determined to enjoy themselves at litter-strewn, miserable British beach resorts. It’s these little moments that observers of his work have found uncomfortable, poignant, and often very funny.

 

The aspiration to make life less ordinary is never more obviously on display than in the fashion industry, whose inhabitants construct Instagram-ready lives of clothes, Champagne, and photogenic locations. Parr is an artist who has dabbled on the outskirts of this industry almost by accident — but he isn’t interested in making a handbag more prominent or a model more beautiful. “I’ve occasionally worked for brands like Louis Vuitton,” he tells me, “but I don’t think they’ll use me again, because I’m too subversive. I don’t do the propaganda pictures.” He prefers the kind of fashion photography that looks like art, not fashion — like the work of Juergen Teller, Elaine Constantine, and Viviane Sassen.

 

These days, Parr travels all over the world, curating exhibitions, speaking at events, and showing his own photojournalism. He recently shot 20 British designers for a magazine, but he can’t remember any of their names. He lets me flick through the photos, and I spot Erdem Moralioglu. “He’s famous,” I tell Parr, and he looks astonished. “Really? Well, of course you would know that,” he counters. “You’re a fashion journaliste.”

 

He remembers most of the designers in positive terms, except one. “This guy is really famous and really pompous,” he tells me, pointing at a photograph. “Money fucks people up.”

 

You might argue that the corrupting influence of wealth is another theme of Parr’s work, though he probably wouldn’t admit it. He has published two collections that relate to the world of elite fashion, both of which are excerpted in the new book. One is Luxury, from 2007, for which he traveled to the St. Moritz Polo World Cup, the Paris couture shows, and the Moscow Millionaire Fair to capture the world’s highest earners at leisure. Looking at the images, it’s hard not to project what you imagine is Parr’s skepticism about the super-rich, as they bathe un-self-consciously in their wealth. “The luxury world is fascinating — I like it all,” he says. “There’s no question that if you look seriously at the sustainability issues in the world, it would get depressing. But my job as a photographer is to create entertainment, with a serious message if you want it. I don’t force it down people’s throats.”

 

In 2002, when the first edition of the Martin Parr monograph was published, he told an interviewer that he considered his best photographic work to be behind him. When I bring it up, he starts to laugh. “This, of course, is what people quote back at me every interview now.” Twelve years later, he thinks he was probably right, though he’s still hugely prolific today (he’s doing five books this year alone). “But it’s interesting,” he says, “because it’s a great taboo — no photographer wants to admit they might be going downhill, right?” I ask whether that’s why he said it: a rebellious urge to speak the unspeakable. “Yes, partly — because it’s the common truth that no one acknowledges.”

 

Parr is refreshingly outspoken on some topics and guarded on others. But try as I might, I can’t draw him into much discussion of his own work; he prefers to concentrate on doing it, not “pondering,” he tells me. Anyway, after decades of success, he has little need to spell it out for journalists at this stage in his career. “My life is totally overwhelmed as it is, so do I need more exposure? Please, no. Perhaps you’ll be my last interview," he says, laughing.

 

If he’s bored of interviews, at least he still enjoys the weird and unexpected moments that come from meeting new people. When I start to pack up and say good-bye, we discover by accident that we share the same birthday — which is the very next day. He will be exactly twice my age, a coincidence that delights him. “I wish we’d done the interview tomorrow — that would have been amazing, wouldn’t it? 'I’ll always remember you now, Hattie,' I say with a tear rolling down my cheek,” he jokes, and darts off to get me a book as a gift.

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Kering was ranked number three on Newsweek's list of the Top 10 Green Companies in the World, number one in the consumer discretionary sector and had a green score of 83.6%.

 

Newsweek points to the French luxury, sports apparel and accessories company as being "committed to sustainably sourcing its raw materials and eliminating all hazardous chemicals from its products."

 

Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs at Kering, stated to WWD "this level of recognition encourages us to continue our efforts to enhance the sustainability of our business."

 

Committed is exactly what Kering appears to be when it comes to the green initiative.

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Kering's Materials Innovation Laboratory is a resource the company's own brands are able to tap into for information that will help them better understand what is at their disposal in regards to which products are free of harmful substances, are organic and are manufactured in a way that is environmentally acceptable.

 

The Environmental Profit & Loss account is a tool Kering's brand Puma pioneered and leveraged by the company in order to assist in assessing its own environmental impact and those of its entire supply chain.

 

Speaking of Puma, in 2013, 50% of the brand's stores throughout the world offered the Bring Me Back Program that urged its consumers to return their old clothes, shoes and accessories as they would be recycled or reused.

 

Newsweek also highlighted what Kering has done to help save waste, specifically from its packaging.

 

"In order to reduce the amount of packaging sent to stores, carton boxes for handbags and suitcases have been replaced by recyclable bags, saving close to 298 tons of carton."

 

François-Henri Pinault, Kering's chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors, drives home the link between sustainability and business.

 

"It is my conviction that sustainable business is smart business. It gives us an opportunity to create value while helping to make a better world."

 

Be sure to watch Kering's video on sustainability as it helps to emphasize all they have done and are working to do within the realm of sustainability.

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The Fragrance Foundation has announced that comedian Dana Carvey will be hosting this year's annual awards event while Carine Roitfeld and Coco Rocha will be the co-chairs.

 

To provide a flavor as to what we can expect from Carvey, here's what he had to say at last year's awards, which he also headlined, and as reported on by WWD.

 

"I think if women are honest, they like a strong man. They like the broad shoulders and the washboard abs. They like strength. They also want a man who can talk to them and understand them."

 

Carvey concluded, "But ladies, you can't have that guy. Because he has a boyfriend."

 

Others that will be in attendance, include: Judith Hill, who WWD reports will give a special performance, Chrissy Teigen, Arizona Muse, Hilary Rhoda, Behati Prinsloo, Kellan Lutz, Sean Avery, Christian Siriano and Chelsea Leyland.

 

The Fragrance Foundation Awards work to celebrate the global fragrance industry and its achievements within the perfumery world.

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According to The Fragrance Foundation, their mission is to serve "its member companies as a resource for industry expertise, innovation and education. [They are] passionately devoted to increasing the awareness and appreciation of fragrance in all its forms."

 

Some of the 2013 winners include:

 

Fragrance Celebrity of the Year: Taylor Swift

 

Hall of Fame Award: Allure's Linda Wells (who was the first magazine editor-in-chief to be inducted.)

 

Perfumer of the Year Lifetime Achievement: Alberto Morillas, Master Perfumer for Firmenich

 

Consumer Choice Award Women's: Justin Bieber's Girlfriend

 

Consumer Choice Award Men's: Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò Essenza

 

Last year also marked Elizabeth Musmanno's first year as president of the Fragrance Foundation. It was last year that Musmanno eliminated the long-running nickname for the awards, FiFi's, according to WWD.

 

This year's event will be held on June 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

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