On 22 November last year, London looked like an oil painting submerged in a cool palette of greys. The city seemed to breathe in rhythm with the rain — dense, heavy, elegant in its own quiet, understated way. It was on this day that the second edition of Freestyle Vision London came to life. It was not a production. It was not a project. It was an experience — one felt more than it can ever truly be described.
The Lancaster Hotel — with its soft lines, hushed corridors, and light settling on the walls like fine dust — became the stage for this intimate narrative. Within its interiors lingered an atmosphere found only in the pages of Italian editorials: half-light, silence, focus, and a beauty that requires no ostentation in order to exist.
Work unfolded in a rhythm reminiscent of Italian cinema. Outside, the streets were wrapped in damp quiet, yet inside the studio, something far more powerful was building. From early morning, hairdryers hummed like engines preparing for take-off. Make-up artists arranged their tools with the precision of surgeons. The photographer tested the light, catching the first reflections of the day. Models prepared themselves as though stepping onto a stage where every gesture might become a story.
Rain struck the windows in a restless rhythm, yet the atmosphere inside was warm — dense with concentration and anticipation. It almost felt as though the weather itself was trying to pause the day, while the creators responded with one silent, collective answer: not today. Gestures were slow but assured. Light was moved with care, as though touching something fragile. Details were treated with reverence — each carrying its own story, its own voice, its own weight. And yet what happened next became the defining moment.
The creators stepped out into the streets of London. Into a city that, on that day, resembled the protagonist of a European film — wet, intense, beneath low clouds that seemed to hover at arm’s reach. The rain was not an obstacle. On the contrary, it lent everything a sensual drama characteristic of Italian aesthetics, where beauty and melancholy intertwine. Puddles along the pavements formed mirrored reflections, as though the city possessed two faces: the visible one, and another hidden beneath the surface of water. Street lamps melted into liquid gold. The air carried the scent of rain, concrete, and stories yet to be told. It was an intimate production — and within that intimacy lay its strength. It required no crowds. A small group of individuals with a refined aesthetic awareness was enough to create something worthy of the pages of Vogue Italia: an image that is neither obvious nor loud, yet deeply authentic. And above this entire story — like a director who never needs to raise her voice in order to be heard — stood Żaneta Mazur.
Żaneta is a creator with a distinctly Italian sensibility, though she was not born in Italy. She combines austerity with delicacy. Minimalism with a baroque depth of emotion. Elegance with courage. It was she who conceived Freestyle Vision London as a space that defies trends. It exists beyond them. Żaneta understands that true art is born not from perfect conditions, but from genuine intention. From silence. From concentration. From the courage to look at the world differently.
Her vision does not rely on constructing grand scenography. Instead, it reveals truth in places others pass by without notice. In her hands, even rain becomes part of the script. Even grey possesses its own shades. Even simplicity becomes luxury. Żaneta creates an atmosphere in which artists can see themselves in a new light — the kind usually reserved for the protagonists of artistic photography published in Italian magazines. She is a curator of moments. A director of images. The author of an experience that stays with participants long after they leave the set.
That day, somewhere between the elegance of the Lancaster Hotel and the mysterious melancholy of London’s rain-soaked streets, a story emerged that felt like a sequence from a Paolo Sorrentino film: slow, beautiful, and unexpected. Built from attentiveness, silence, and light reflected in puddles. Freestyle Vision London does not need loud words. Like Italian cinema, it is subtle yet penetrating. Intimate, yet profound. Luxurious — because it is sincere. And Żaneta Mazur’s vision gives it a tone that is not only seen but also deeply felt.
Photography Ilona Kasprzyk Onartphoto
Make up Aweeza Hafid Rezhan
