The best lessons in art direction don’t come from ads.

Steven Meisel did a shoot with Vogue in 2007 to showcase the patterns that would be dans le vent in 2008. The photos aren’t ads, but the art direction is brilliant–at a level advertising should aspire to but rarely achieves. Check out more images here. 

Too many ad people scour CA and the One Show Annual for “inspiration.” The real inspiration lies further afield in the at the edges of the world of art, architecture and unbridled eccentricity.  It is a country none of us visits enough.