Assouline Launches Its London-Inspired Title With Charles Finch

Assouline, the Paris-based publisher known for its chic coffee table tomes that double as objcts d’art, is at it again with a new book that’s devoted to London, and as you’d expect from this city, it’s equal parts regal and rebellious.

Text by writer and film producer Charles Finch accompanies atmospheric visuals by Mark Anthony Fox, and together they pull back the curtain on the capital’s characters, quirks, institutions, and style. The result is Chic London, a love letter to the city that’s full of contradictions, posh yet punk, classic yet current.

“I’m definitely drawn more to the smaller moments,” says photographer Mark Anthony Fox. “While the obvious sights are easy to photograph, I find the subtle details and stolen moments within them far more compelling to capture.”

In the photo series we see faces from Kristin Scott Thomas and Ozwald Boateng to Daphne Guinness and among the streets, markets and green spaces of London.

We learn from Finch, “When Prosper and Martine Assouline asked me to write, or to chronicle, London Chic, as part of their wonderful series of Chic city books, I was a little concerned about our great metropolis actually being described as “chic” at all. Paris, yes—chic. Milan, chic. New York, possibly chic. But London? Not so sure. At least, not in the conventional sense.”

One summed it up saying, “Bohemian and scruffy we are, then—albeit with faded, jaded, original, and colorful elegance.”

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was photographed inside Sir John Soane’s Museum in Holborn, the preserved home of the Regency architect. The house is still brimming with his collection of over 30,000 architectural drawings, plus paintings by Turner, Hogarth, and Canaletto, along with antiquities, models, and fragments. Soane designed the space around light, using top-lit galleries and stained glass to create what he called “luminère mystérieuse,” and that same light frames Scott Thomas (complete with Bella Freud threads).

Fox says of the space, and shooting Kristin, “While not entirely unexpected as it’s one of my favorite spots, Sir John Soane’s Museum is always striking every time I visit. Every corner offers curiosity and discovery, and photographing Dame Kristin Scott Thomas with this as the backdrop was a huge bonus.”

And of course, the London Eye makes an appearance too. It famously opened on December 31, 1999, and today it’s still one of the city’s most visited landmarks.

The five-star hotel and beacon of London luxury hospitality, Claridge’s in Mayfair, features inside the pages. A favorite spot for Audrey Hepburn, the hotel has retained its original Art Deco lobby lovingly preserved since the 1920s, and in recent years it’s become known for its annual designer Christmas tree, with past creations by Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, and Dolce & Gabbana.

In contrast to all the polished luxury and regality, Fox also captured the punk fashion still alive on the streets of Camden, along with the skate culture beneath Queen Elizabeth Hall.

“It is, in fact, the very un-chicness, the actual mess of the city, that makes it so extraordinary and so easy to love. In London, you can find anonymity should you choose or mayhem if you must. It is a city that in every way resembles the British character,” says Finch.

For Fox, London’s essence is more subtle, “If I had to describe the spirit of London in a single frame,” he says, “it would be a scene framed through the hazy window of a coffee shop on the corner of Columbia Road, capturing a kaleidoscope of people from the market, perhaps sneaking an afternoon pint at the local pub.”

“Punk rock was born in the capital. Vintage-clothing shops started on the King’s Road and then stretched to Carnaby Street. Soho bustles with youthful exuberance and nightlife and jazz clubs. The West End and theater world, and the hordes of tourists, live side by side with the living, breathing emblems of another time: the royals,” he adds.

This concrete enclave has been a mecca for skaters since 1973, making it the world’s longest continuously used skate spot and a cornerstone of London’s street culture.

Reflecting on the mood of London, “It’s true what they say: the weather in London is often grey,” says Fox. “In truth, my work has been heavily influenced by the mood you experience here and in similar cities. I wanted to convey how I personally feel when walking around London, delivering a sense of place and emotion through my images that perhaps viewers haven’t felt about the city before.”

From the antiques of Portobello Road Market to the candy-colored houses of Notting Hill, the visuals highlight the capitals most beloved faces and places, reminding us that London’s appeal is multi-faceted with its heritage, chaos, and endless reinvention.

Chic London by Assouline, text by Charles Finch, photography by Mark. Priced at $120, €120, £100.