Interview

MCCARTNEY: But what’s interesting is that you could easily have taken photos of these girls yourself. Instead you remain a viewer of magazines and advertisements—and create some sort of double take. Like, I’m looking at this painting you did of Kate Moss, which is from an ad campaign. So I’m already familiar with the image, and then I come to your painting to see your spin on it.

JOFFE: When you’re looking through a magazine, what makes you stop and think is when you see an image and imagine the narrative that is going on inside of it. Those are the ones I make into paintings.

MCCARTNEY: What artists have inspired you?

JOFFE: I find photography massively influential. Specifically, Diane Arbus, who I’ve been obsessed with my whole life. Her work has everything about the portrait of a human that you can ever want. Although her work is pretty depressing stuff . . .

MCCARTNEY: So do you want to do photos as well as paint?

JOFFE: No, I’m a terrible photographer.

MCCARTNEY: And yet you also paint from your photos—and your paintings are incredible, so your pictures must be good.

JOFFE: I’m not being modest. They really are crap. But in a way, the more the photo is crap, the better to paint from. [laughs] Like, for the ones of me and my daughter—the more awkward and bad the photo, the better the painting turns out. Do you know the photographs of Harry Callahan? The ones he shot of his wife are highly formal, but they are also incredibly intimate. That was a really profound influence for me in trying to make paintings of me and my daughter. How can you make a great painting that is also of the most intimate thing?

MCCARTNEY: I know you have a show this spring in New York. You haven’t had your paintings shown there in a while. Was that intentional?

JOFFE: Nobody asked me. [laughs]

MCCARTNEY: Why do you mainly paint women?

JOFFE: Right—“Why are there no men?” It’s because I think about women and their thoughts and ideas, and I suppose when I’m painting them I’m getting to be them, in a sense.

MCCARTNEY: You can relate to them.

JOFFE: Yeah, it’s as simple as that. I really love painting women. Their bodies, their clothes—it all interests me, whereas men really don’t that much, in a way.

MCCARTNEY: I guess you’re in good company. Most male painters have historically admired the female form. It’s got a lot going for it.

JOFFE: I wanted to ask you a question.

MCCARTNEY: But, I’m interviewing you.

JOFFE: I know, but at your last show in Paris I noticed that all of the models looked like you. I thought that was rather interesting . . . It’s a bit like how I paint women in a way—a sort of projection of your own personality onto them.

MCCARTNEY: I think when you’re a woman designer who designs for women, that’s kind of unavoidable. It’s actually the big perk of the job. I remember years ago I asked Marc Jacobs how he designed for women, because for me it comes naturally, because I am a woman. He said, “Oh, I just think, if I were a woman, what would I want?” That seems like such a complicated process every time you want to design a shoe or a jacket.

JOFFE: Do you pick the models for your show?

MCCARTNEY: I choose them. I have a guy who does casting for me, but we work together. It’s funny, because whenever someone else is excited about a girl who I am not keen on and I eventually give in, I always regret it when I see her on the runway. “Ugh, I knew I didn’t like her. She’s just not very me.” I think it took me a little while to be true to myself as a designer, and in some ways I’m still trying to do that. I have to choose things that come naturally to me. Whenever I challenge something too much or try too hard, it never quite works out.

JOFFE: It was fascinating to be backstage, because I’m interested in the models as specific people. And when I see you and your relationship with them at the show, it adds a degree of complexity.

MCCARTNEY: It made perfect sense to have you there, because I’ve known you for a while now and I have this access to these bloody great models!

JOFFE: You had Lara Stone backstage. She’s brilliant—and so awkward on the runway, it’s fantastic! I love that. Hugging her tits in this kind of slightly embarrassed way. I thought it was brilliant.