Article: In the Studio with the Photographer, Filmmaker, and Artist Michel Comte

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In the Studio with the Photographer, Filmmaker, and Artist Michel Comte

On a crisp, clear day, we visited our friend Michel Comte—photographer, filmmaker, and artist—at his studio just outside Zurich. Renowned for his high-profile celebrity portraits, Michel’s creative vision reaches far beyond the glossy pages of magazines. His work has been exhibited in prestigious galleries such as the MAXXI National Museum in Rome, the Triennale di Milano, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Over a career spanning four decades, the Swiss-born artist has earned acclaim for seamlessly blending fashion, fine art, and portraiture into timeless creations that balance elegance with emotional depth.

Born in Zurich in 1954 and educated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Michel began his artistic journey as a painter before transitioning to photography in the late 1970s. His collaborations with Vogue Italia and Vanity Fair, along with his portraits of models, actors, and musicians such as Claudia Schiffer and Miles Davis, established his reputation for capturing vulnerability, individuality, and strength. Over the past 20 years, Michel has devoted himself primarily to his art, delving into themes of natural landscapes and the impact of environmental changes—including rising ocean levels, acid rain, erosion, and glacier melt—through sculpture, painting, installation, photography, and 3D video art.

During our visit, Michel personally selected a few pieces from our AW24 collection to wear, complementing them with his own exclusive eyewear from Optiker Zwicker in Zurich. It was inspiring to see his distinctive aesthetic harmonise with the understated style of some of our favourite brands, including Arpenteur, A Kind of Guise, Batoner, and Barena.

In the Studio with the Photographer, Filmmaker, and Artist Michel Comte

Michel Comte Studio

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