The model/poet bridges literature and personal style with her new 235-page hardcover volume, available now at LAAMS in NYC.
Elle Banes is no stranger to stepping into the spotlight, but her latest pursuit springs off the printed page rather than from a camera lens. The multi-hyphenate model just debuted her first collection of poetry, a stunning 235-page hardcover volume that blends gorgeous imagery and well over a decade of personal writing from Banes.
Parallel To You, which recently launched in New York City, arrives both online and in store at Lower East Side concept space LAAMS, bridging the gap between a visual medium and Banes’ deeply personal work. Roughly 15 years of writing is assembled by the Hunter College graduate in the volume, with prose and poetry taken from sources as varied as Banes’ personal notebooks, her digital archives and late-night notes. As the model and artist told Maxim, the book “blends poetry, visual art, and design to explore transformation, sexuality, identity and human flaw.”
The visually appealing volume, self-published by Banes, also brings together her varied pursuits in the world of fashion, using photographs of garments designed and sewed by the model-turned-poet. The garments are inscribed with her verse, an ingenious move that brings the work to life in vivid fashion.
“Each piece offers a different way into the writing, with poems carved into fading wax-coated fabric or concealed beneath layers of material, revealed only through touch and movement,” according a a statement from the publisher. Blending both the visual and artistic with her own documented musings allowed Banes to feel a full range of emotions, and “each poem is hidden in plain sight within each photo,” weaving its way across a diverse array of fabrications. “This collection examines the contradictions we live within,” the book’s website notes.
Banes, who’s represented by PHOTOGENICS out of Los Angeles, graduated from Hunter College with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and a minor in Philosophy. The model—who is of Japanese, Filipino and Puerto Rican descent—has worked on campaigns and content for the likes of Calvin Klein and SKIMS.
Parallel To You brings “a longstanding part of her creative practice into greater visibility, establishing writing as a central part of her wider artistic work,” said Moda Rebel, her public relations agency.
As she promotes her new work, Banes has ambitious plans for the rest of the year, with travel lined up to Bali in December and January, along with an undoubtedly busy schedule lined up at Art Basel in Miami. She also has plentiful advice to share for the modern man, who might also do well to muse on her latest volume of poems.
“My best advice is for men to balance Anima and animus,” she told Maxim. “When men tap into their feminine side— being kind and compassionate, it’s impossible for women to not fall in love with them. It’s also great for their confidence and mental health,” she added. To broaden your outlook and liven up your bookshelf, find Parallel To You online now (SRP: $120).
