The Essential List: Loren Denis
Loren Denis began her career as a fashion model in New York 20 years ago. But her work in front of the camera gave her an itch to give life a go behind it, and over time a passion for film and directing grew. Nowadays she’s repped as a director by Superprime in the US, Rattling Stick in the UK and, in her home country of France, by Lesfilsde. She’s worked with the likes of Ray-Ban, Burt’s Bees and La Mer and, most recently, worked with her boyfriend, model Anthony Vibert, to document the diversity of their hometown of Paris.
Get to know Loren better below!
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Paris
o Hometown: Paris
o Staycation: Up north in my mom’s country house, in ‘baie de somme’
o Vacation: Greece
o Pet: My Olympus Muji II(!)… besides that we used to have a buzzard, a rabbit and a turtle when I was a kid, and this friendly bunch all lived in the same place: the kitchen (alive, I might add!)
o Place of work: My living room, the couch, my bed…
o Place of workout: The boxing ring
o Side project: I work on a few personal projects with my boyfriend Anthony Vibert every year. We are actually about to finish a film called Paris Loves Us that celebrates Paris and its diversity, which we shot and edited during the summer.
o Mode of transport: Legs, bike, subway, trains
Bonus Travel Essential: Camera, sunglasses, cap, boots
Culture
o Artist: Baldessari, Basquiat, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Katsushika Hokusai, Charlotte Lebon
o Musician: Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Nick Cave, Massive Attack, Cliff Martinez, Eminem, Jack White, Sebastien Tellier, IAM, Nina Simone
o Commercials / music video director: Jonathan Glazer, Aoife McArdle, Dougal Wilson, Sarah Dunlop, Ringan Ledwidge, Romain Gavras, Megaforce, Gustav Johansson, Jan Gleie, Michel Gondry
o Film director: Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Jean marc Vallée, Xavier Dolan, the Dardenne ’s brothers, Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, the Coen brothers, Kathryn Bigelow, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Alejandro Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron
o Photographer: Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Ren Hang, Harley Weir, Coco Capitan, Juergen Teller, Alison Scarpulla, Steve McCurry, Theo Gosselin, Vivian Maier
o Film: Alabama Monroe, Divines, La Grande Bellezza, La Haine
o Series: True Detective Season 1
o Commercial: Volkswagen (Jonathan Glazer), Canon (Jan Gleie)
o Music Video: Virtual Insanity (Jamiroquai), Karmacoma (Massive Attack), War Dance (Thylacine)
o Video Game: Never really liked playing video games... I might have played on the first Sim City...?
o Book: ‘Lettre d’une inconnue’ (Stefan Zweig)
o Graphic Novel: ‘Jean Nouvel – 2007-2016 – Contemporary Reflections’
o Podcast: I never really listen to any podcasts… should I?
o Newspaper (off or online): We Demain
o Magazine: M le monde, Purple, Vice
o Bonus Culture Essential: I think we all need to spend more time listening to our elders… they know what’s up.
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: Tea, almonds, green juice (kind of boring I know!)
o Restaurant: Ellsworth Paris because it’s just very good
o Cheap bite: Tasted recently the best kebab in town at Grillé Paris
o Working lunch: H.A.N.D. They’re so lovely there and the food is excellent… it’s like the extension of our kitchen!
o Favourite Dish: Pesto pasta
o Signature Dish: Yoghurt cake!
o Snack: Medjool dates in winter, figs in summer
o Guilty Pleasure: French fries, good old school bread, any kind of French cheese, dark chocolate, coffee with cream (full fat)
o Bar: Nope… sorry not much of a drinker I’m afraid
o Booze: I never even order whole drinks as I can’t finish them (pretty pathetic for a French girl, right?!) Ok… maybe cider when I’m having crepes ;)
o Not Booze: Coconut water
o Bonus Food: Pasta. With pesto.
o Bonus Beverage: Coconut water
Kit
o Phone: Just bought an iPhone X after my 6S totally died on me
o Computer: Same... just got a new MacBook pro because my previous one (12 years old, bless his soul) almost died in the middle of a big competition.
o TV: Pioneer plasma screen, 15 years old, I give you a good price for it. To watch documentaries and films because the rest drives me crazy… even if i know it’s a bit contradictory since my work is to make commercials ;-)
o Headphones: Funny you should ask, because I always had the biggest knots in my Apple headphones while I was making calls and I had no problem with it… until I tried the Airpods. So Airpods are an extension of me now, and my primary headphones.
o Camera: Leica Q (but all the other letters are quite ok as well)
o Soundsystem: A Bang and Olufsen system that I bought almost 17 years ago.. unbreakable and still beautiful.
o Pen / pencil: Definitely a pencil in order to erase and start again!
o Casual Clothing: Sweater, jeans and sneakers
o Smart Clothing: Sweater, jeans and boots
o Footwear: Converse
o Watch: No watch needed, I look at the sun and I know (Crocodile Dundee style)
o Collection: Dried out pens, extremely ugly key chains, pocket change from Latvia and Ukraine, iPhone 6Ss with non-functioning Apple earphones, hair bands and an unhealthy amount of 1 and 2GB USB keys, all in a bowl placed for your viewing pleasure in the entrance of our home.
o App: Shazam, VSCO, Instagram
o Website: konbini.com, vice.com
o Blog: Just discovered https://www.brain-magazine.fr recently. The ‘pute’ page is hilarious!
o Work program: Keynote, I still love doing my docs on it!
o Digital work tool: Photoshop! Otherwise I used to be good on Final Cut 7 (not available anymore unfortunately. I was so, so sad when it disappeared)
o Analogue work tool: Bringing my films to the lab
o Morning grooming / makeup essential: An Armani concealer that never leaves me!
o Bonus Kit Essential: Never wear a pair of the same earrings, I always go solo
