Mert and Marcus

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott were born in 1971, respectively in Turkey and Wales and met for the first time in a photographic studio in London in 1991.

The day they showed their work to magazine Dazed and Confused, the editorial team was so impressed that they immediately asked them to make the cover.

“The difference between us and other photographers is that we care a lot about appearance”

Indeed, Mert and Marcus’ work isn’t about capturing a feeling, but about looks and perfection. There work, considered as pure genius in early 2000 is very inspired from the work of photographer Guy Bourdin and relies mainly on digitalized photo-manipulation. Today brands keep signing for new assignments but criticism is starting to rise as the duo is in charge of every new ad campaign, restricting the visual world of magazines to a false image of perfection.

After working for Dazed and Confused, the duo has worked on assignments for the American and Italian editions of Vogue Magazine, W Magazine, Pop Magazine, Numero and Arena Homme Plus as well as working on many advertising assignments for brands amongst which Louis Vuitton, Lancome, Roberto Cavalli, Kenzo, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Giorgio Armani for which they recently shot Victoria Beckham.

They have also collaborated with many celebrities amongst which Gisele Bunchden for Missoni, Madonna, Elizabeth Jagger for Lancome, Scarlett Johanson, Kylie Minogue, Charlotte Rampling, and Kate Moss for Fendi, to only name a few.

In 2006 they were chosen to shoot the new Pirelli Calendar.