A muse can be a mirror: a reflection of the artist's desires, anxieties, dreams and needs.

A muse can be a mirror: a reflection of the artist's desires, anxieties, dreams and needs.

Think of brilliant trickster Vik Muniz as the offspring of Man Ray and Jacques Henri Lartigue, combining the former's relentless experimentation, the latter's effortless wit, and their mutual inventiveness in work that defies category.

Fashion is, perhaps by necessity, in a world of its own - one that only rarely overlaps with anything resembling real life. This fantasy and exoticism is part of its appeal, of course.

Just as our taste in lovers is far more revealing than our choice of friends, the object of an artist's obsession can open up doors to their soul that might otherwise remain shut tight.