Summer in the city: a bustling, stifling and less-than-calming experience. But even in the midst of blaring car-horns, sweltering commuters and dizzying throngs of irritable pedestrians, there’s a pocket of peace to be found in every metropolis. Such moments of sweet escape provide the inspiration for the film How You Look At It, directed by photographer Poppy de Villeneuve and starring rising Chinese super model Liu Wen.
To create her moment of blissful cool, De Villeneuve took to the serene spaces of New York’s Asser Levy Recreation Center—a turn-of-the-century bath house, replete with Art Deco pool—where, in a heat-induced reverie, a Norma Kamali clad Wen is joined by former Sopranos regular and actor in the upcoming Martin Scorcese-produced HBO series Boardwalk Empire Edoardo Ballerini, for a sensual, teasingly ambiguous swimming lesson.
De Villeneuve found the rookie actress a “delicate, quiet, playful and dry” performer — subtle qualities that enabled Wen to breeze mesmerizingly through the city in a Dolce & Gabbana trenchcoat and Calvin Klein stilettos, her softly frizzed hair tumbling over her Cutler & Gross sunglasses. “The city is so busy and full, it’s like you’re lost in a sea of people,” says the director. Accompanying De Villeneuve on the shoot for NOWNESS was cult fashion blogger Hanneli Mustaparta, who shot an intriguing series of behind-the-scenes images.
