To celebrate Pride this year we spoke with some of the talents making waves in the industry: creative director and photographer Yuanyi Zhang, photographer Davis Bates, florist Hamish Powell, and model Raya Martigny. Get to know these inspiring creatives as they share their personal views on Pride, discuss their artistic endeavors, and more with LVR.
Happy Pride! How are you celebrating this month?
Personally, I believe that every day is a celebration of Pride because we are all fundamentally the same as others. We all possess love, tolerance, and a zest for life within us.
What does Pride mean to you?
For me, this is our holiday and celebration, an opportunity to express ourselves and let the world understand our presence. Our roles in society are no different from others, and in fact, we have even more courage, talent, and more sense of social responsibility.
In what ways does your experience as a queer person influence or affect your creative work?
My personality plays an important role in my personal creations and work. Sensitivity, attentiveness to detail, and the ability to capture nuances are reflected in my grasp of visual compositions. For me, aesthetics are essential, and it is rare to find beauty in the ordinary.
What are some of your favorite queer brands or designers, and why?
Definitely Mr. Yves Saint Laurent. Above all else, he is an individual I greatly admire. Regardless of his sexual orientation, I am captivated by his immense talent, his profound understanding of beauty, and his unparalleled interpretation of it. What sets his visual and design works apart is the remarkable level of sensitivity, fragility, and intensity that he imbues within them, all reflecting his unique aesthetics. His design process is akin to a form of performance art, and I am deeply moved by his selflessness and unwavering dedication to his work. Mr. Yves Saint Laurent was not only a designer but also an artist and a true aesthete.
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Happy Pride! How are you celebrating this month?
Thank you! I am so excited to be able to celebrate who I am. I’ll be attending Pride in Los Angeles and New York, where I’ll see all my friends and be able to drink and dance and have the best time.
What does Pride mean to you?
To me, Pride means you can be the full, most honest version of yourself without caring what anyone else thinks.
In what ways does your experience as a queer person influence or affect your creative work?
As a gay photographer, I am constantly inspired by my community, and I have been loving photographing other gay men in their truest and sexiest form. Eventually, I hope to be able to make a book of all the images soon.
What are some of your favorite queer brands or designers, and why?
Some of my favorite queer brands and designers are Dion Lee; I love his clothing so much because it feels like every time I put a piece on, it’s a party.
I also love Rick Owens because he is so iconic, and I love how all of his clothing feels so effortless and sexy and flowy.
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Happy Pride! How are you celebrating this month?
Thank you!
I’ll be celebrating the same way I celebrate my Pride every month, by dressing, acting, and feeling authentically myself. London’s underground nightlife scene has really blossomed since covid, and there are some super cool parties that will be going on for Pride; I can’t wait to go and dance and laugh and uncontrollably tell my friends how much I love them.
What does Pride mean to you?
For me, Pride is something very valuable, something I realize not everyone is so lucky to have.
Pride is the consequence of many lessons, self-discoveries, and acceptances that transforms a thing that we are otherwise trained to suppress. Pride is an achievement, a prize for realizing how innately special we are. Pride is a feeling of self-assurance and of community bonding.
In what ways does your experience as a queer person influence or affect your creative work?
I have always viewed my queerness as a superpower, as a blessed baseline of difference from the rest of society. This difference flows through my fingertips, where often, a motivation for creation is the very act of creating something that feels different.
For me, growing up with society’s attitude to my queerness imprinted some kind of necessity to counterbalance these parts of me I felt shameful for, and, as toxic as it is, it developed a hunger for perfection. Luckily I’ve long since unpacked and addressed that shame, but the engendered perfectionism in me has maintained.
In my art, this manifests as total and abiding perseverance, where I will always find a way to execute the image in my head, for better or for worse.
What are some of your favorite queer brands or designers, and why?
I think that the word ‘Fun’ gets a lot of bad reps. I don’t believe it’s tacky or cheap to be fun; it’s something joyous! I actively search for fun things. A designer that I think leans into “fun” design well is Charles Jeffrey’s LOVERBOY, color and shape and THEME all fall into Jeffrey’s playground, which I love!
Also, I like to be called “loverboy”.
Another queer designer I have a soft spot for is Simon at JACQUEMUS. His aesthetic is SO well-curated, both personally and through his brand too. It’s effortless and romantic and happy and full of queer LOVE. I think those four things are all you really need.
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Happy Pride! How are you celebrating this month?
Happy Pride!
I just came back from where I come from, a small island with the name of La Reunion. I was there organizing Pride with my friends and family, it’s only the third one on my island, and it was magic to see everyone happy and celebrating each other.
I’m also getting ready for my summer in between Berlin and the south of France. It’s going to be super warm energy, all about celebrating and stimulating my body and mind.
What does Pride mean to you?
For me, Pride is the journey and energy of several people put together to move the fight forward. It’s also about celebrating your personal story, celebrating love, and the little things that make you happy.
Pride is about being together because together, we’re stronger. It’s something personal and universal.
In what ways does your experience as a queer person influence or affect your creative work?
My creative work is fully connected to my own construction; as a transwoman, it makes me feel alive and proud of myself. It’s positively challenging, and it’s a feeling that will forever make my heart go boom.
Meeting fabulous people and icons and celebrating who we are all together is the life that I will always fight for.
What are some of your favorite queer brands or designers, and why?
I’d say RAUL from LUAR. I love his world and his perception of beauty, and I also love that designers like to showcase the people who inspire them.
It’s the fashion I love to live in, and it’s a way of fighting that’s more artistic or even festive. I was very much brought up by much older queer people, and the way I militated was mostly through partying. For me, walking for designers who are inclusive and who contribute to the well-being of our community is like a big party where everyone knows their mission.
I also love JW Anderson; he’s a genius that knows exactly how to tell you a story.
