Petar Petrov x Elfie Semotan

As Petar Petrov was finalising his first resort collection in Vienna during lockdown, he called upon his long time friend, the photographer and filmmaker Elfie Semotan. Together they conceived of a campaign that would debut on the just launched petarpetrov.com site. Petrov wanted the series, featuring the enigmatic Polish model and actress, Malgosia Bela, to encapsulate the instinctive ease of the collection and our shared re-appreciation of nature. The team drove to the rural area of Burgenland in Eastern Austria to shoot from dawn to dusk in natural light.

Semotan, a one time model herself, turned to photography in the 1960s and learnt her craft in a heavily male dominated creative world. She was a pioneer of ‘real’ glamour and collaborated with fellow Viennese creative, Helmut Lang throughout his ground-breaking fashion career. In this series, Semotan allows emotion and spontaneity to shine through as Malgosia interprets the subtleties of Petrov’s collection in her own inimitable style. It serves as a portrait of a woman living a beautiful day or enthralled with the beauty of the day.