As well as Casting Director for CoSTUME NATIONAL Homme, Daniel Peddle is also an artist, a rare combination of talents. Backstage during the CN Homme SS 09 shows he drew inspiration for a series of light water colours inspired by the world of Ennio Capasa.

“Art and fashion nurture each other,” he tells us “And working with Ennio is such a strong stimulant for creativeness”. Passionate about aesthetics and a keen observer of reality, Daniel switches smoothly from the world of art to fashion, photography and directing in a concentrated mix of creativity and experimentation.
What’s his objective? To succeed in representing beauty connected to fashion in the framework of different ethnic groups, a mission that has led him to make trips to Alaska, Budapest, Ethiopia, Paris, to create documentaries/films and to work together with international designers and a range of magazines.

-Daniel talk to us about your works. How do you choose the themes you paint and what is their relation with Ennio’s style?

Right now Im working on a “nature morte” series basically dead animals and I have been punctuating this with the backstage series which come from photos and sketches I do backstage at Ennio’s men’s show. I was haunted by these rare moments of serenity and solitude amidst the chaos of backstage. Ive been painting the boys because it is also interesting to see guys put through this ritual of hair and makeup and being dressed up and transformed through Ennios vision

-How does Ennio inspire or condition your art?

Ennio is an artist and you are aware of his sensitivity right away. Also he has a dark and contemplative quality which is really comforting and appealing to an artist like myself.
It instantly snaps you into a certain wavelength. We are also both Piscean and I understand his intuitive sense of visual language.

-How do you choose your themes and models?
Certain experiences or stories or feelings or people just will captivate me. Its really not something I “think” about, its more like a source I feel connected to and strive to stay near inorder to express myself.
I think of casting as being like painting in a way because you are trying to capture something beautiful but you also want this to look like it willed itself into being too, that it looks inevitable and quintessential.

-Casting director, photographer, director – how do you manage to handle all these professions and how do they relate to each other?

I think of them all as being so interrelated that its not so clear to me where these activities get divided. I don’t have a sense of a juggling act going on, I just feel that my life has many layers.

-According to your bio you travel throughout the world on the look out for new forms of beauty. Where will the next ones come from? Which nations should we keep an eye on ad how is the concept of beauty itself evolving in the modern world?

Oh some places are secrets! But in general I think we are going to see more “ethnically ambiguous” faces. Faces which are unique to our place in history as a global community. I think these faces really express hope to a conflicted world. They are the ultimate proof of the beauty love for one another can express, as they transcend socially constructed ideas of “race” and class and geography.

-How do you seek out new models and what are you looking for in them? Beauty, temperament…?

I try to stay “open” and always looking…Again its more a sense you get about a person. For me
the first and most important thing is the “cool factor”.
Not how they are necessarily dressed but more do they know who they are, how engaged are they with expressing this at all costs.
So my idea of “beauty” in a person starts with their command of how they present themselves to the world, if they transfix you in an unapologetic effortless way.
These are the people that will be interesting to look at in a runway show or photograph or painting.

-Ennio is working to both highlight and document the Plug Generation through online castings conducted in different world venues – first Paris then New York. A mix of street cultures, styles and personalities to get a focused look at a daring, multicultural and curious generation.
As one who travels a great deal and every day meets new young people around the world, who is most in tune with this project like? Where are these people from? Try and outline a list of ethnic groups and cultural features of the most interested countries with an explanation.
How do you see the Plug Generation?

Yes we cast the NY “Plug Generation” for CNC’s campaign this season. Those kids are basically
communicating their ideas to one another in such a rapid fashion its really hard to fathom.
Their sense of self is so informed by an acknowledgement that we are now a global community on the brink of enormous change, which is emphasized by the internet. They are both “tuned in” in a way never before but also “tuned out” as well. They have a unique style which is globally informed. I think this generation identifies more through style not always ethnicity or even nationality.

“Touch Up”, 2008
Watercolor (Height – 24 inches x Width 18 inches)

A young person can be from NYC via London or Jamaica now living in Berlin with a group of friends from equally diverse backgrounds all united by say a certain style of art or music or fashion, which they communicate back to their friends in other parts of the world in a real-time, “live” way.
The power to communicate transformative ideas quickly are really limitless now. That’s how I see the Plug Generation—really interconnected. They are basically going to challenge our old perceptions of society.

Have a look to the Daniel’s interview during CoSTUME NATIONAL Homme SS 09

Have a look to the back stage – CoSTUME NATIONAL Homme SS 09

www.danielpeddlecasting.com

Daniel Peddle Casting
The Secret Gallery, Inc.
206 West 23rd Street
Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10014
646 688 4077 Office