I can’t remember the first time I met photographer Sophia Wilson. She just appeared one day as a wonderful presence with a camera and joie de vivre. Though she makes whatever she does look easy, the truth is Wilson is one of the hardest-working girls in New York. Since she first picked up a camera at 13, inspired by a desire to document her friends and the world around her, Wilson has worked for countless brands and magazines, while also making sure to maintain her personal practice. For Wilson, it’s all about her community. Her vibrantly stylized work treats its subjects with respect and plenty of love. Now Wilson’s bringing that energy to her new collaboration with Dr. Martens, utilizing all of her talents both in front of the camera and behind it as a photographer. She stopped by to chat about it all.
i-D: I’m really sad that I missed the dinner! I heard it was fab.
SOPHIA WILSON: I feel like everybody on planet Earth was there. I felt like everybody I’ve ever met in my life was there. It was so incredible. When you walked into the restaurant, we had made a candy bar that reminded me of, like, a mini Dylan’s Candy Bar. It was Sophia + Dr. Martens Swedish candy, and you could fill up your own bag with candy that we hand-selected to match the colors of the campaign. The next room was the proper dinner. Manon Macasaet helped us come up with the color scheme, the font for everything, the decorations, and how the candy bar looked. It all just felt like the campaign coming to life.
Which shoes did you wear?
The 1461 shoe!
A lot of your collaborators you’ve been friends with since high school. How do you see the importance of community in your creative practice?
Oh my God, it’s literally everything. I have a little bit of a leg up in that. You get it too, because we grew up in New York City. I feel like I’ve been kind of, not even intentionally, fostering this community of creative people that I admire since I was, like, really little. The restaurant was packed. I was like, wow. I guess I do take it for granted sometimes. My community is so strong. I just feel very, very grateful. Most of the people who came are my collaborators or people that I admire, or they admire my work, and we work together. It’s just really beautiful that people all took the time out of their day to come by.
What initially inspired you to pick up the camera?
Honestly, Instagram. Well… I’ve always been an artist. It was the only thing I was interested in, even from preschool. It’s the only thing that I’m really good at. Fashion inspired me too because I come from a very fashionable family. Everyone is, like, a fashion addict. When Instagram came out, I was probably 13, and I thought, let me just try to be a photographer. I wanted to make money on my own, and I figured it out. I realized there are so many opportunities in New York. You don’t have to be a nepo baby. You don’t have to come from a super wealthy family. You can just be a normal NY kid and knock on doors and get these opportunities for yourself because you grew up in New York.
How has your relationship to girlhood changed as you’ve gotten older?
It’s always changing. I think a big thing about it is gender identity and trying to figure out where I land in that sense. Growing up, I was super tomboy for a while. I only wanted to wear boys’ clothes, and I only wanted to play with Pokémon and hang out with the boys. That shaped a lot of my girlhood growing up. As I grew up, I realized a lot of it was, like, rebelling against what I was meant to do. Because if people were like, “Oh, you can’t play football,” I would be like, “Well, that’s the only thing I want to do now.” Girlhood was, like, wearing dresses, and it wasn’t for me because I didn’t want to have to be different from the boys. In recent years, as I’ve become more sure of myself as a woman, I’ve started to lean into my feminine side more, which was really a huge struggle for me for most of my life. I wear skirts and dresses now as an adult. These past few years are the first years that I’ve done my hair and, like, worn makeup. This is all still pretty new to me. I went to a predominantly white school growing up, like K-12, and I didn’t really have friends. Again, that’s how I started my career because I had so much time on my hands. But because of that, I didn’t get invited to parties. I didn’t dress up. I didn’t go shopping with the girls. I didn’t learn how to do makeup. I feel like I’m still growing up in a lot of ways.
How would you describe your personal style now?
I wear a lot of vintage designer clothes because I’m really interested in archival fashion. I’m pretty preppy, but in an ironic way. I love tailoring. I love good materials, and then also, I love chaos. I love a hint of punk in my preppiness.
Who styled the campaign?
Zoey Radford Scott. We got to pull from, like, Vaquera. Miss Claire Sullivan is a really close friend of mine, so she gave us a skirt for it. Having a Miss Claire Sullivan tutu in a Dr. Martens campaign is so me.
For this partnership, you were talent and creative lead, and you also photographed an editorial for us. Can you tell me about switching gears and how you do it all?
It comes pretty naturally to me. My photography aesthetic comes from my soul and my being. I feel like it is very much the same as my fashion aesthetic, which is the same as my apartment aesthetic. Creative direction and talent-facing stuff are pretty easy for me, I guess, because I’m used to just doing the creative for all of my work anyway.
What inspired the collaboration?
I grew up wearing Doc’s. When I was in middle school, I wore holographic Doc’s. When they reached out, it just made sense. In one of the campaign images that I creative-directed, you can see I’m in the middle of the air, and it’s because we bought a trampoline and put it in the park by my house. Notoriously, I have a trampoline in my house. I’m a ball of energy. In my apartment, I jump on the trampoline all the time, just because I need to get my energy out and think of my ideas. It’s funny that the campaign is called “With Bouncing Soles.” I was like, “Oh my God, I have the best idea, you guys.”
It was B.Y.O.T. So, what makes your soul bounce?
Bright colors, dancing, spending time with my friends, meeting new people, and making art.
Last question: Many young photographers look up to you. What advice would you give them?
Put yourself out there because you never know who’s watching or, like, what’ll come from it. And then make art that you haven’t seen before. A lot of being a child of the internet is making art that is influenced by another piece of art. Try to step outside of that and create from within. That will set you apart as a trendsetter rather than just a follower. And those are the people who stand out in history as artists.
Cool interview. Please consider referring to Ms. Wilson as one of the hardest working “women” in New York. Unless I read it wrong, and she actually isn’t an adult.