Off Season by Fabien Fourcaud

As London winds continue to blow arctic and the sun’s valiant effort to shine fails to provide any real warmth, holidays are at the forefront of our minds – an idyllic fantasy landscape of deserted white beaches, blue skies, candy pastel houses and clear swimming pools. This week’s most loved post ostensibly ticks the boxes, but turns them on their head. Instead, Fabien Fourcaud’s atmospheric photo series, loved by AnOther assistant editor Tish Wrigley, depicts the idealised accoutrement of relaxation and reverie at a unlauded time of year – Off Season. Empty beaches look desolate, blue skies are washed out to shades of grey, rubbish blows like tumbleweeds through empty carparks, and the odd human visible becomes an interloper into an arid, unfriendly landscape. Summer is everything to these neighbourhoods – winter is nothing, forgotten. 

If February had a colour, grey would be it, and it feels like the spirit of the shade is still staining the collar of March. But we’re determined to banish the negative associations grey has at this time of year – both temporal and literary or cinematic – with a celebration of its beauty. Long beloved by the fashion community as a colour that balances neutrality and chic, it is used to masterful effect in Ann Demeulemeester’s dramatic diamond ring and on the new couch at Chanel's Old Bond Street story. Artistically too, it is invaluable – adding poignancy to Marlene Dumas’ tribute to Alan Turing and shine to Gisele Freund’s gorgeous black and white portrait of Frida Kahlo, while offsetting the off-white appeal of Maison Martin Margiela’s excellent Russian dolls.

So at AnOther, we may be feeling grey but we’ve decided to overturn the melancholic insinuation, without heading towards fetish. So as we ponder our favourite shade of grey, we speak to Wrigley about photographic and beach favourites.

Why did you choose to love this photograph?
I like the bleakness conspiring with the seasonal potential. Generally I just love deserted places.

What’s your all time favourite photograph?
It's too hard to pick one, but I'm reading Elena Ferrante at the moment and Brett Lloyd's photographs of the Neapolitan Scugnizzi are the perfect accompaniment. 

What’s your favourite beach?
River Temple, near Varkala in India and Hunmanby Gap in North Yorkshire. 

Are you a fan of the colour grey? If so, what’s your most prized grey possession?
I had a look at my clothes the other day and discovered they are all grey. My mother always said it washed me out, so I can only assume it's delayed subliminal rebellion.

What’s your favourite grey moment in popular culture?
Guernica by Picasso.  

What’s the last thing you bought?
Fiji water.

What are you most excited for this spring?
Mornings.