For the minimal fashion label Cold Laundry, Nigerian-American photographer Oghalé Alex has directed an otherworldly editorial that showcases the brand’s Fall/Winter 2019 Collection.
The editorial’s theme, and by extension, the brand’s leitmotif, is about ‘escaping the noise’; a concept envisaged by Cold Laundry’s cofounders, husband and wife duo Ola and Cerise Alabi. “One of the things we thought about when it comes to escaping is a vacation,” explains Alex to IGNANT. “This can be to the beach, a resort, or simply anywhere a person considers to be peaceful. So we spend a lot of time finding locations all around the world that emphasize what this theme and the brand is about.” In the ethereal series, dramatic landscapes in places as far flung as San Pedro, Chile, Sicily in Italy, and metropolises including London and Los Angeles, were chosen as backdrops with consideration to the pastel colors of the garments. The imagery focuses on a rather beautiful juxtaposition between bodies and nature, with special attention to tactility, posing, and movement, while color and tone are key elements to each frame’s striking composition.
“The touching, posing, and movement comes from what our idea of freedom is,” Alex says. “Sometimes we’ll have the models laying down in a formation, other times they will be walking out of the frame towards something unseen. Whatever the models do, we often have them do it together because we believe there is comfort and freedom in companionship. Each picture is meant to look like something out of your imagination or something you might have seen in a dream.” Alex has shared a selection of his peaceful images below, with the aim to “bring about happiness and pleasant thoughts to the viewer.”
Courtesy of Ignant