KlausEngelhorn20/22 and Unit F büro für mode present the photo series THÁI-CÔNG - MY PARENTS. For this project, internationally celebrated photographers made pictures of Thái-Công’s charismatic parents in creations by well-known labels, from Louis Vuitton to Vivienne Westwood.

The fashion stylist Thái-Công persuaded 28 well-known international photographers (including the Austrian Andreas H. Bitesnich), to photograph his parents in the latest creations of world-famous fashion designers and labels. The clothes and accessories are an integral part of these works: they no longer represent a certain label and the lifestyle it evokes. In each of the photos, the new context and the irony of the composition alter the effect and give new meaning to the clothes.

His Chinese father (93) and his Vietnamese mother (56) have had a turbulent life. Their charismatic, life-worn faces build a fascinating contrast to fashion and its glamorous representations. Thái-Công’s parents inspired the photographers, who are accustomed to work with perfect bodies and perfect faces, to supreme creations. 30 outstanding works of art were the result of the shootings. These works break up the symbiosis of fashion, youth and the worship of beauty, and pave the way for a new aesthetic dimension of fashion and photography.

was born in 1972 in Saigon, Vietnam. With his parents, he moved to Germany in 1981. He studied fashion design for four years. At present, Thái-Công lives and works in Hamburg. As a freelance fashion stylist he works for well-known photographers, companies, advertising agencies and magazines. For his latest project, he travelled through Vietnam for one month with his parents. In search of their and thus his own identity, he wanted to portray the country, where his parents had lived and where he himself was born.