The Style Files: Miguel Flores-Vianna

I first learned of Miguel Flores-Vianna while watching The Barefoot Contessa. He is a friend of Ina Garten’s and consequently appeared on her show several times and shot the images for some of her cookbooks. Through the years that I have been blogging, I have frequently come across his beautiful and inspiring photography in both magazines and on design blogs. This talented former editor-turned-photographer has had his amazing work featured in publications like ELLE DECOR, House & Garden, Domino, Veranda, and various international versions of Architectural Digest including AD España and AD Germany. Miguel has a knack for making every shot feel completely alive. There is a warmth in his work that is so engaging. I have really enjoyed learning more about him through the “Style Files” and love that his answers to my questions are so artistic and poetic.

Name: Miguel Flores-Vianna

Occupation: Photographer

Hometown: Buenos Aires

Current City: New York City

LDV: How did you go about starting your career in photography?

MFV: I bought a camera 4 years ago and that was it. I left all I was doing previously behind.

LDV: What do you love most about being a photographer?

MFV: Before, as an editor, I would find stories for magazines, now as a photographer, I still find the stories, but get to tell them with my camera.

LDV: Where do you turn to for inspiration?

MFV: People inspire me more than anything else. A great life story is for me, beyond any other art form.

{Carolina Irving as featured in Vogue}

LDV: Who are some of your personal style icons?

MFV: I don't have style icons, but there are people who live in a certain way which reflects on their persona. I admire the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, who besides being very talented with the pen, also is a great architect, a war hero, a polyglot and an undaunted traveler. The taste, the exposure, and the culture that Caroline Irving has amassed as she goes through life also reflect in the luminosity of her persona.

LDV: How would you describe your style?

MFV: I only and always wear orange socks.

LDV: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

MFV: Once a therapist told me in a sweet and elegant way to get a life. I have been following her advice ever since.

LDV: What is your principal weakness?

MFV: I love slow mornings.

LDV: What is your idea of living “la dolce vita”?

MFV: Doing what I want, when I want to do it.

Bloom: Youth, nothing is like the bloom of youth, whether you are 18 or 81.

Food: Bread and cheese, and figs and a sprinkle of honey, great food to start the day

Drink: Wine and freshly squeezed lemonade. Both equally good

Thing to Wear: Warm clothes in winter, cool ones in the heat.

Destination: Home- it is so delicious after a long trip or a hard day at work.

Season: The season for love is my favorite season.

Musician: Cicadas, I love their voices by the million during hot summer afternoons.

Artist: Time is the most underestimated artist.

Film: It is always the last one I have seen.

Television Show: I don't have a TV.

{Image Credit}

Book: Many, but The Leopard, by Giovanni di Lampedusa, A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Speak Memory by Vladimir Nabokov are at the top of my list.

Magazines: Cornucopia, published in English in Istanbul, Turkey, www.cornucopia.net

Blogs: La Dolce Vita and quite a few others