New York-based photographer Eric T. White recently produced a series of photographs and photo-collages for Opening Ceremony—a global fashion brand with e-commerce, retail stores and in-house fashion lines—celebrating their collaboration with artisan florist Thierry Boutemy. White frequently incorporates collage into his work, and felt the technique could work well mixed in with the more straightforward fashion portraits. Opening Ceremony used 18 images in the online slideshow promoting Boutemy’s collection, 12 straight photographs and 6 collages. White, in an email to PDN said, “I think the design concept of the clothing went along very well with my own personal style, especially the collages. Also, I incorporate a lot of flowers into my own work.” Brussels-based Boutemy drew the attention of Opening Ceremony (as well as other fashion houses like Givenchy, Lanvin and Dries Van Noten) thanks to his extraordinary floral arrangements in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film, Marie Antoinette. Boutemy created a series of smashed and decayed floral designs for the line that were then turned into photographic prints on fabric.

Introduced to Susan (Su) Barber at Opening Ceremony by Andrew Gethins and Brent Smith at See Management, this was White’s first time working for the fashion brand. “Su and I had talked about incorporating some collage into the final story. As we were shooting I was constantly looking for pieces to work into the collage. Sometimes it works out like you think, other times it’s a surprise!”