vis-à-vis: Melvin Sokolsky recreates his iconic bubble for Jennifer Aniston and Harper’s Bazaar US

By Bebe Leone

Simone D’aillencourt 1963                                                                    Jennifer Aniston 2014

Melvin Sokolsky recreates the iconic bubble shots he made for Harper’s Bazaar in 1963 to capture Jennifer Aniston for the December 2014 issue of Harper’s Bazaar US. Inspired by a recurrent dream Sokolsky had about floating in the air , the bubble was built in 1963 to house model Simone d’Aillencourt, who was taken around Paris like a fairy in a soap bubble.The misty, romantic atmosphere of the 60s shots is replaced by a bright-colored, minimal, almost futuristic setting in Aniston’s photographs. The new bubble appears to be bolder and intimidating, something to be protected from, while the Parisian bubbles looked harmless, whimsical, almost evanescent. It seems like the 50 years in between the two editorials have made an impact on Sokolsky’s view on his own dreams and life, definitely more disillusioned and down to earth than what it used to be in the early years of his career.