Paris Minnesota

As you may or may not know, the internationally acclaimed, Minnesota-based photographer Alec Soth runs a fairly fabulous blog. And his latest post should appeal to the sensibilities of readers of this blog — I like to think of you all as tasteful and yet substantive folks with deep inner lives (you also happen to be Minnesotans).

Paris Minnesota is the fashion magazine Soth shot in a mere four weeks. He did it for Magnum, a photographers’ cooperative that commissions a single photographer to complete one of these hefty things annually. In Soth’s instance, the result pairs images of Paris couture with that of Minnesotans dressed up in their Sunday bests.

In other words, Minnesota is the counterpoint to, and perhaps the very opposite of, Parisian haute couture. Brothers and sisters, I thought you might like to know …

One final thing: It’s worth noting that Soth hasn’t always been the most popular of fashion photographers. Check this dispatch from one of his earlier posts. Still, his status as an artist is well solidified. Oh, how I want to feel this magazine in my hot little hands!