The Study Of Pose is an ambitious collaboration between Coco Rocha and Steven Sebring. The book catalogs over 1000 unique poses, each captured from 100 angles on an experimental 360 degree rig.
Taking the concept one step further, each pose has the ability to become interactive in the book's companion program that shows each pose in 360 degrees. This additional dimension brings the poses alive and invites the audience to explore the pose from all angles.
"The Study of Pose isnt a complicated idea, we simply wanted to document the beauty of the human form in one thousand different positions in a book that could be used as a reference, as an art object, even as entertainment," commented Sebring.
"Around 2010, as touch-screen technology was emerging as the way we would digest content in the twenty-first century, I started creating a system that would enable me to capture moments more fully from a 360-degree perspective. It was while I was in the early stages of developing what I now call 'The Rig' that I met Coco Rocha who is known both inside and outside of the fashion industry as the master of pose. She became my muse and a natural fit for a 1000 picture exploration of the pose.
When Coco poses, there is a story being told with every gesture. To me, that's story telling at its most basic and beautiful. We covered all the classic poses from art history, and then moved into iconic poses from fashion and film. We also covered all manners of dance movement, from ballet to Elvis and everything in between. The poses in this book derived inspiration from every art discipline, including architecture and typography. Every shot of Coco is here in its 360-degree glory; with every pose you can interact with her, zoom in on her, move her, and be fully able to study a pose in great detail."
"In attempting to document a thousand poses I learned a lot about my own method of modeling. I would be lying if I said I didn't hit a few walls in the three days we shot this book," Rocha added. "At times I felt I had nothing left to give, and it was then that Steven or my husband James would give me a new inspiration - 'Grace Jones,' 'an old man,' 'Jessica Rabbit' -and I would find an entirely new arsenal of moves. I took each suggestion and tried to emulate the spirit and energy of those various characters and personalities through my body, through a pose. What was Botticelli's Venus' next move? How would she allow her weight shift onto her right leg instead of the left? Often a pose wasn't based on one influence alone but the combination of two or three. What would it look like if Marilyn Monroe and Bob Fosse fused bodies? How would that person move or act?
As a model, I've always found inspiration in a great many places. Sometimes it's prima ballerinas, the way they arch their backs, the seemingly effortless way they move their limbs, and the graceful manner in which their hands seem to float through water. Sometimes the inspiration comes from a different type of dancer; it might be the way Michael Jackson would snap every muscle in his body into place, the precise manner in which he moved across the stage, the aggression in his face as he taunted the audience. Perhaps my inspiration might be Greek sculpture, the classical contrapposto, that beautiful counterbalance of weight. Architecture, the structure of mass, the balance of positive and negative space - all these concepts and more run through my mind as I search to find the right persona, the right inspiration, the right pose that I hope will inspire the artists I'm working with. In the end, that's what being a muse is all about, stimulating the minds of those around you, helping them to channel and focus their creativity."