The Muse - Baptiste Giabiconi

Muses have been useful to Artists for thousands of years. It started with the Greeks when they were said to be three in number, and by the Classical times of the 400s BC their triad and tripled to nine Goddesses who inspired by improvising song and dance, writing and traditional music.





These days however they inspire by being toned and gorgeous French models in a more modern way. Something Baptiste Giabiconi knows a lot about, being the number one muse on design-God Karl Lagerveld's list. 


Of that Karl Lagerveld had this to say:

 “I think after the ugly skinny boys of Hedi [Slimane’s] days…some ‘beauty’ was needed, but new beauty.” He likens Baptiste to a "boy version of Gisele Bündchen: skinny, skinny but with an athletic body — good for clothes and great with no clothes.” 

Later Lagerveld recounted when Naomi Campbell met Giabiconi in Moscow and told him  “It’s not right: We all have defects. You have none.” Which shows how even models are feeling envious of Baptiste.

Lagerveld in recent photoshoots (namely for Purple magazine) has been playing with the juxtaposition of masculinity and femininity. Karl Lagerfeld and art director Olivier Zahm wanted to portray the iconic Helmut Newton woman, and with Baptiste looking so great in stilettos that was that.

He also dresses (and undresses) his muse Baptiste on this peel-off cover of Wallpaper. Looking an awful lot like Lagerveld in a slick suit, high white color and slim black tie it’s easy to see what the inspiration for this cover was. Luckily Lagerveld himself isn't in a state of undress. 

But just this month Lagerfeld brought his show to Shanghai for the first time, where in addition to a pre-fall show he unveiled a new Chanel film. 


From WWD: 

"The show featured 71 looks and took place on a custom-built barge with a glass front facing out onto Pudong’s famous futuristic skyscrapers. The boat remained stationary during the show, which began with a screening of the film “It is a great idea to do it on a boat, with Shanghai in the background. It is quite unreal in a way,” said Lagerfeld."

Chanel Paris-Shanghai Pre-Fall 2010

Barbie and Ken by Karl Lagerfeld at Colette in Paris

However long this lasts we won't know. Muses come and go and for all we know Baptiste could be thrown out on his toned ass next week and replaced. What we do know is that Babtiste Giabiconi is at a very powerful place to command a career and he can securely enjoy being at the very top. He's not likely to go anywhere anytime soon though.