Seeing as the overall theme of this week's ShortList MODE is Seventies style, who better to kick things off than offensively dapper Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg? No one, that’s who.
But there’s another reason we’ve chosen the suave singer to open this issue – you see, he was the inspiration behind our cover shoot with male supermodel David Gandy...
ShortList MODE editor Adrian Clark explains: “Serge was the starting point… We felt that his louche, continental-luxe lifestyle embodied the liberal outlook that was so integral to the Seventies. While New York was getting down at Studio 54 and London’s Mayfair set was quaffing champagne with Princess Margaret, the Parisians really captured the era’s fusion of culture, hedonism and bohemia. Gainsbourg was a god among style icons.”
That fusion is captured in all its extremely well-dressed glory in a brand new exhibition at London’s Proud Gallery, from which these shots are taken. The show – ‘Jane & Serge’ – features intimate shots of Gainsbourg and his long-time partner, British actress Jane Birkin, throughout their fairly tumultuous relationship, which spanned 1968 to 1980.
You’ll see the singer enjoying a healthy French breakfast of cheese and cigarettes in a Normandy farmhouse, reclining in an Oxfordshire graveyard (as you do), and just generally exuding a seemingly effortless aura of Gallic cool.
Head straight to page 64 to see Mr Gandy channelling that very same aura in our suitably louche cover shoot.
‘Jane & Serge’ is at Proud Chelsea, London until 26 October; Proud.co.uk
[Images: Andrew Birkin]
