IRENE: A DIFFERENT KIND OF PLEASURE

A dreamer and a bit  naive, seductive, ethereal: it seems like the description of one of the protagonists of a David Hamilton shot. But it is Iréne, an erotic fanzine created in April 2011 by Genevieve Eliard, Esthéle Girardet and Lucie Santamanas.

The three Parisian girls, who, tired of boring cliches of sex, decided to talk about intimacy in a different way from the way in which mainstream media have accustomed us. Through the emerging young photographers` images they portray an elegant and suggestive eroticism and they talk about an independent woman, conscious but mostly real, far from the aseptic perfection to which it seems inevitable  to comply.

Iréne has a precise objective: to claim the uniqueness of female sexuality, “a beautiful and special source of inspiration”. It’s out now in its fifth issue (printed strictly in limited edition), the fanzine is told through the words of its three young creators.

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Valentina. Hi! First of all, tell me something about you. Who are you?

IrèneFanzine. Hi! The three of us are evolving in different professional areas. Geneviève is a lingerie designer and also works as a freelance AD, Esthèle is a graphic designer and launched last year her new photography curating project call “More Than A Gallery” and I work as coordinator in video production.

V. Who is Irène? An idea, a real person, a concept?

IF. We wanted Irène to be identifiable as a women with a specific character but with no specific sexuality or fantasies. She has no shame about her nudity because Irène is subtle delicate and this is what she is proud. She is beautiful through natural, she is erotic but a bit naive and she is proud and happy with her body the way it is. She is a real person. We wanted Irène to be a real person. We want to talk about the beauty of the body in a spontaneous and sincere way!

V. Who’s your audience, who are you talking to?

IF. On Facebook the audience is huge… Both men and women of different ages.. We want to talk to whoever is curious and sensible!

V. Why you’ve chosen the erotic subject for the fanzine?

IF. We were all living in London at the time, 4 years ago, and we were a bit fed up with the image of eroticism that was everywhere although quite vulgar. We wanted to show something different, that we would find beautiful and could identify to as women. We didn’t have any publishing experience before, so it was an exciting challenge to launch ourself and a good experience to meet people from different artistic backgrounds. Geneviève was in London working in the lingerie industry and she was fascinated by the female body. Esthèle was working as a graphic designer and she wanted to experiment the world of photography and Lucie, she was up to start a new project in the culture area. It was the perfect team!

V. Love, sex and the female body are very stereotyped these days like there’s only one ideal for all. What is erotic for you?

IF. We want to bring back some values in this area (eroticism), starting by the idea of secret. It sounds like a paradox but we have created Irène also because we wanted to bring the secret thing back in the game. Pornography is everywhere, although it is important to keep some secrets in order to have some magic! We believe that desire comes from the hidden.. that’s the eroticism.

V. You like poetry and the imagery of the fanzine is quite dreamy and delicate, at the same time it looks very real. What inspires you?

IF. We think is essential to see the reality through a sensitive and alert look. Culture educates your eyes. We like to see eroticism also in the simple things and not only in a nude body. We like images with a very sensitive point of view.

V. How is the process of doing a new issue, how do you decide the subjects you want to talk about?

IF. For our first issue we had a poem as a starting base to inspire us and the photographers who were working on the contents. For the two last issues, we wanted to have a wider range of imagery so we worked only with mood boards, and for the fourth issue our challenge was to avoid nudity. But, we are very instinctive most of the time, we make mood boards that mach our desire and feelings and go towards photographers who we feel close to our ideas.

V. The look of the fanzine is really distinctive: refined and tender yet powerful. Ho important is the relationship with the photographers you work with?

IF. We are trying to be really closed to our photographers and to build a relationship with them. Our principal goal is to support young talents and to grow up with them. We are not working at Irène to earn money, it’s not our the spirit at all, we just want to work with interested and motivated persons.

V. What is more challenging in working on the erotic subject? What is you plan with the future wit Irène?

IF. To be in accuracy! It’s always a fine line between vulgarity (the texture) and softness. We are talking about her future!

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Meet the girls of Irène at www.irene-eroticfanzine.tumblr.com