As Nolan’s Odyssey trends for all the wrong reasons, many of us reflect back on what makes myths so important to our societies past and present. Inanis, French photographer, unveils his latest work in collaboration with Vellutini Lingerie and highlights the sacred nature of Art and the mythologies it springs from…
The Coral (Milena), 2026 by Inanis in collaboration with Vellutini Lingerie
Modelled by Tereza and assisted by Caroline Dumont
Remnants of a world long gone, rich ochre-red hues strikingly juxtaposed against the depths of darkness and photographs that possess an unmistakably painterly quality.
Inanis has worked as a creative photographer for over a decade in Paris and around the world. Since 2022, he shares his love of art history through his photography series #Mythologies, a modern retelling of ancient myths portrayed through vivid chiaroscuri, incandescent bodies and a decisively baroque touch which has nothing to envy the great masters of the 16th and 17th century. In a world where hyper curation has become the 11th commandement, his treatment of the body feels almost devotional. His subjects never appear as posing. Rather, they exist in a reality of their own: a universe where figures are not painstakingly selected and defined but left to express themselves in their true form, at any age and any size.
Through #Mythologies, he hence uses common themes of art (Madonne, Judiths and other archetypes take center stage…) to talk about women empowerment, LGBT+ themes and to question other contemporary issues. Centering the tales at the heart of our civilization, he creates photos carrying memories made thousands of years ago and contributes to a movement encompassing various forms of art (Roberto Ferri’s painting is the most vivid example of this style in visual art while musicians such as Lana del Rey, Lorde or Florence + The Machine arguably borrow the texture of baroque and draw great inspiration from the emotional depth and drama conveyed by the works aligning with this movement) at the crossroads of neo-baroque and neo-academic.
Inanis' inspiration, Pompeian frescoes
When I met Inanis in the spring of 2026, I felt an immediate pull towards the stories he was bringing to life. Discovering his work for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel like I knew some of these scenes, had lived through them, even. Upon discovering our lingerie collection, he instantly knew he wanted to create photographs that would read like a fresco fragment straight out of Pompeii. Inspired by the rough textures of Pompeian walls, their deep red shades and poetic single Roman figures, this series called “The Coral” evokes a place suspended between antiquity and our times. Where Nolan’s Odyssey has reignited debate over the depiction of women in ancient epics, Inanis’ work turns that conversation on its head entirely. Here, women are neither prizes to be won nor obstacles to overcome. They become the authors of their own mythologies.
The Coral (Milena) part II, 2026 by Inanis in collaboration with Vellutini Lingerie
Modelled by Valentina Boschin and assisted by Caroline Dumont
The images created for “The Coral” speak of Mediterranean heritage and its longstanding myths. Medusa’s blood, protagonist of the legends surrounding coral, is said to be the origin of this marine entity, flowing to the sea and solidifying after the gorgon was slain by Perseus. Still deeply embedded in the Mediterranean Basin, beliefs of evil spirits or evil “eye” are at the core of the usage made of coral since antiquity. So why should we pay any attention to stories created thousands of years ago by people who seemingly had nothing in common with our current realities? The answer is precisely because they have everything to do with us. While technology progresses and the world as we know it slowly metamorphs, the core challenges faced by humans have not changed in the slightest. “Myths are popular stories that travel through millennia because they tell the story of humanity. That of yesterday, but also that of today and tomorrow” says Inanis. With this in mind, we leave you with an invitation: seek out the artists, the objects and the garments that carry these ancient stories forward. The Mediterranean has always treated beauty not as decoration but as memory. Philocalists of the world, unite! Some beauty is simply too ancient to fade…
Inanis' inspiration, Roman "bikini girls" from Sicily, early fourth century AD
0 comments