“I love going to the plane still feeling the sand or the sea on my skin.”

Fashion photographer Michael Hemy and his muse Lauren Rucha love to plot out the beauty of a place over time and encompass the natural beauty of their surroundings. A reference that springs to mind about them is The Passenger with Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider because dividing their time between Paris and London, travel is always an important part of how they work. For this Haulier International campaign, they travelled to the Balearic Islands.

“The places that we go to we want to tune into the timeless elements. Mallorca has a lot of that, it has all these beautiful, almost nostalgic moments. Where we stayed was amazing. It was this Mediterranean, Moroccan, Western mix in the middle of nowhere surrounded by palm trees and cactus,” says Hemy of his first visit to the Spanish island.

“Mallorca has this very relaxed air, island-life feel to it. A lot of the island is quite rocky with the beaches but there are some little pockets which have gorgeous sandy beaches,” adds Rucha. “ We found this gorgeous cove beach. It feels quite cinematic in places – like this amalgamation of the essential beauty of the Mediterranean and the Aegean.” 

Hemy and Rucha possess a divine synergy and get excited together without any interference. They fell in love with the Mallorcan '60s modernist buildings. Everything from the garage doors for the boats to the orange palette of the awnings and sun loungers outside transported them to another moment in time. “You expect things to be very built up nowadays so to find moments and places like this is special,” says Hemy. 

It reminds Hemy of an inspiration very dear to him – Agnes Varda’s 1958 classic short film Du Côté de la Côté, which he believes made capturing the true essence of the latest Haulier collection quite simple. The clothes are suited to life in transit or stillness and possess all year round appeal. There’s a natural fibre focus throughout the collection, which features base military inspired tones of washed black, tan, sage contrasted with natural ecru, flashes of fuchsia and soft marine blues – perfectly in sync with a Baleriac palette. 

“The colour of the water is this incredible turquoise. The cliffs surrounding these coves have these deep pink, chalky colours. Looking at the way the light was coming down, I try to absorb all of those impressions as I go,” says Hemy. “That is the visual reference that stayed with me. It's all about these sensory experiences which play into everything. 

“We were wearing the clothes and everything was centralised around the bag because it was helping to order everything. These things happen quite organically as we go, really,” adds Rucha. “It took on this very natural feel to what we were doing.”