The Elgorts

There are some families where creativity runs through the genes. For the Elgorts, this inheritance is something they practise and finesse with commitment, forever sharpening their skills. Image-making, movement, and performance might sound like a bunch of separate disciplines, but for Sophie, her father Arthur and mother Grethe, they are overlapping ways of engaging with the world.

On Legacy

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Photography never arrived as a revelation for Sophie Elgort

“It was always mine,” she says, when asked when the medium became hers. What changed over time wasn’t a sense of ownership, it was her growing confidence. Seventeen years into shooting professionally and she’s nailed the ability to trust her instincts without second-guessing their legitimacy. “You know what you like and you go with that. Art is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone will have a different opinion, and that’s okay. What’s important is that you like what you’re making.”

The sense of seeing and moving as a profession is embedded in the home Grethe Barrett Holby and Arthur Elgort built together with their children. Grethe's life in dance and opera taught her early on that motion precedes speech. She comments, "Movement is everyone's first language." Signed up for ballet classes by her mother when she was just five years old, she was hooked with the music and rhythm – as well as the pleasure of moving in sync with others. According to Grethe, there's one lesson that has followed her throughout her life: in a dance class, the highest compliment isn't praise – it's correction. "You work hard to have the teacher come over, take your arm or your foot, and show you how to do it better. It's not criticism. It's showing interest."

For Arthur, his 1971 debut in British Vogue kicked off an entire movement of iconic 'snapshot' fashion photography. The emphasis he ushered into the genre was centred around movement, spontaneity and natural lighting. For many, this was seen as a liberating moment. Asked whether this push against the accepted style was intentional or instinctive, his answer is immediate, "Instinctive. I began with dancers – not as one myself, but as a dance photographer. So I brought what I loved about that into fashion shoots. I went against the idea of being too perfect, too controlled because that becomes boring. Doing it the way I did, was the only way I knew to work." He's humble about his legacy, "I took a chance, I went out on the streets with my camera. I shot Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. I had a lucky break. Now everybody is a street photographer, everyone has a camera in their pocket."

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Sophie recognises the lineage, but doesn't feel bound by it. Their differences as photographers are structural as well as generational. "He's a man, I'm a woman. We're different ages, born in different times, lived different lives, so of course we have different points of view." Listening to her describing her own process, it's clear how much this embodied understanding of discipline and collaboration filtered into the household. Photography, she explains, is rarely solitary. "Most of it is a big team effort. There's the photographer, stylist, hair and makeup, and the subject. You have to work with people whose work you admire. Especially now, with digital, everyone can see the image as it's happening, which can make it harder to get to the shot you're holding in your head. With film, you had more time before people started weighing in."

Trust between subject and photographer is something Sophie returns to again and again. "I do research before photographing someone. I want them to feel comfortable. I show them the photos as we're shooting, so it becomes more of a collaboration. Especially with portraits, I want them to feel it represents them. Once they see the first few images, trust builds. I want them to feel I've captured something real."

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Clothing, for Sophie, is self-expression as well as self-protection. "You can choose which parts of you to show and which to conceal. I guess it's like armour – in a sense, if you want it to be." Grethe grins at this and says, "When I was a dancer, all I cared about was my leotard and tights and the coat I threw over them. I once wore the same khaki jumpsuit for a year! I suppose you could say that I have my 'uniforms'. I usually tell my costume designers: 'I know nothing about clothes! You tell me what you see, and we'll discuss it from there.' I'm in a fashion family, but my family tends to 'dress' me. I'm still learning from Sophie!"

Knowing that an authentic attitude is almost certainly more important than any outfit, Grethe explains, "Opera and dance demand both visibility and vulnerability. Stage presence is something you're born with. I tell students: share your soul with the audience. Give yourself to them". Performance, she believes, leaves a permanent imprint. "The pleasure it gives you never leaves."

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What endures, for all three, is not the image alone, but the experience of making it. Sophie remembers childhood birthday parties in Arthur's studio, dressing up with friends and being photographed for the sheer pleasure of it. When asked what he hopes people feel when they see his photographs decades from now, Arthur pauses and says, "I think they'll say, 'He was pretty good, but he's no Helmut Newton!"

The Elgort family haven't framed their creative careers on the need to strive for total perfection. Fun, togetherness, and a life in motion seems more accurate for them.

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ARDEA ARTS is an incubator of groundbreaking, new opera-works redefining American Opera within a contemporary vernacular framework. Our mission is to make the opera experience accessible but challenging to widely diverse audiences of all ages. New work is made by exciting, unexpected artists who speak to these audiences through the medium of opera. Opera bursts forth with our own cultures and resonates with our own languages—enchanting, challenging, and inspiring multi-generational audiences, and makes us laugh, cry, and acknowledge who we are. These are the same ideas that inspired the beginnings of opera back in 1590, and they are what we strive to re-capture in these new works by the artists of today.

www.ardeaarts.com


THE SOUTHAMPTON FRESH AIR HOME (SFAH) is a nonprofit residential center offering summer camp sessions and year-round programs for children and young adults with physical disabilities. Our mission is to provide an enriching, recreational and educational experience. We are committed to helping our children develop physically, emotionally, and educationally, with the goal of fostering self-esteem, maturity and independence through a broadly balanced program, while providing their families with a well-deserved respite. The Southampton Fresh Air Home is dedicated to improving and expanding its programs and facilities as new opportunities, technology and financial support become available.

www.sfah.org

Welcome to The Stance. A natural extension of the conversations, places and most importantly, the people who have long shaped the brand. This printed record celebrates our community – and takes a closer look at how the connections we've made have played a part in defining the shape and unique spirit of Marfa Stance.

Across its pages, are stories from our global collective. Long-form interviews with humans whose lives, practices and points of view reflect a shared sensibility, rather than one single aesthetic. United by the way they move through the world with curiosity, creativity, and conviction, these conversations lean into the value of slowing down.

A publication is the original anti-scroll – something permanent you can live with and return to, time after time. Forever evolving with enduring, timeless appeal, The Stance mirrors our approach to clothing. It's an invitation into the Marfa Stance world, their voices, values, and the rhythm of their universe.

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There are some families where creativity runs through the genes. For the Elgorts, this inheritance is something they practise and finesse with commitment, forever sharpening their skills. Image-making, movement, and performance might sound like a bunch of separate disciplines, but for Sophie, her father Arthur and mother Grethe, they are overlapping ways of engaging with the world.

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[2] ON LEGACY: The Elgorts

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There are some families where creativity runs through the genes. For the Elgorts, this inheritance is something they practise and finesse with commitment, forever sharpening their skills. Image-making, movement, and performance might sound like a bunch of separate disciplines, but for Sophie, her father Arthur and mother Grethe, they are overlapping ways of engaging with the world.

Read Article

The Elgorts

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