featured series · no. 01
Le Smoking, Revisited
A menswear study in black wool and borrowed confidence. One tuxedo, two days, and the argument that tailoring is just architecture you can dance in.
- Photography
- DeeJay Bui
- Styling
- PLACEHOLDER Stylist
- Grooming
- PLACEHOLDER Groomer
- Talent
- PLACEHOLDER Model
- Location
- Studio B, Oakland
PLACEHOLDER COPY: In 1966 the tuxedo stopped being a uniform and became a question. This shoot picks the question back up. We built the set around a single hard light, the kind that makes wool look like poured concrete, and asked the tailoring to do the talking.
“Tailoring is architecture you can dance in.”
PLACEHOLDER COPY: Halfway through day one we abandoned the shot list. The lapel detail that opens this story was an accident, caught while the stylist re-pinned a seam. The best frames usually happen while everyone thinks the camera is down.
“The best frames happen while everyone thinks the camera is down.”
PLACEHOLDER COPY: We closed with the jacket off and the shoulders honest. A tuxedo, it turns out, photographs best when it is halfway to being taken seriously. Frame 31A, the empty chair, was the last exposure of the day and the first one I printed.
the contact sheet
every frame, even the honest ones
portra 400 · db 2026 · Le Smoking, Revisited