Samuel Schler
Choreographer + Movement Director + Art Curator + Creative Director
Samuel Schler is a French-born, New York-based multidisciplinary creative director, curator, and movement director working at the intersection of fashion, art, performance, and brand culture. He began his career in publishing in the early 2010s, reporting from international fashion weeks for publications including Vogue and GQ—years that shaped his fascination with image-making, storytelling, and the cultural forces that influence how we see the world.
After working in-house with global fashion brands including Zara in Spain and Gap in New York, Schler established an independent creative practice spanning creative direction, cultural strategy, partnerships, and brand positioning. His clients range from Zara, Crocs, Rockefeller Center, and Knoll to emerging designers and cultural organizations, with additional projects for institutions including the Brooklyn Museum.
His practice extends into movement direction and choreography, where he brings trained and untrained performers into dialogue through a collaborative approach to movement. He has worked with designers including Peter Do and Zaldy Goco, translating their creative worlds into performance, staging, and embodied storytelling.
As a curator, Schler has developed and guest-curated exhibitions across Europe and the United States, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and interdisciplinary practices. Most recently, he partnered with Mexico City gallery Mooni to guest curate its New York opening, bringing together artists, mediums, and communities across geographies.
Across his work, Schler moves fluidly between creative direction, curation, movement, and cultural production, using fashion as a lens through which to explore narrative, identity, and collective experience.
Schler has shared his perspective on culture and brands through speaking engagements across the United States and Europe, including private company events, Art Basel Miami, entertainment conferences, and galleries. His work has been featured in PAPER Magazine, L’Officiel, Vogue, Hypebeast, and Elephant, and has premiered on NOWNESS.
What does it mean to exist both as individuals and as part of a society? Considering the delicate balance point that allows us to thrive in both spaces, multi-disciplinary artist Samuel Schler and photographer-director Philipp Paulus explore the dynamics between the ‘self’ and the collective mindset through dance for short film Transient.
“Transient encapsulates the conflicting feelings at the heart of one common human experience: the tension between our needs for individuality, and our craving for collectivity. Is there such a thing as belonging? How do we maintain our uniqueness when living in uniformed societies?”
Performing against the neoclassical architecture of the Brooklyn Museum, with costumes created by New York-based designer Peter Do and an original score by Matt Composure, dancers reflect the themes of identity, in dividuality, belonging and longing – caught in a push-and-pull of uniqueness, and the magic of social osmosis. Navigating the space between untrained and trained bodies, Schler’s choreography aims to expose the cycling states humans go through, as alienation transforms into curiosity, resistance and acceptance, in a study of impermanence, and the need to embrace life’s mutable nature.
Zaldy returned to the runway after nearly two decades with …Boys Like Me, his Fall/Winter 2026 collection presented at The Hotel Chelsea during New York Fashion Week. The 26-look menswear collection was a deeply personal exploration of individuality—playful, provocative, unapologetically queer, and distinctly Zaldy.
Movement direction for the presentation was led by Samuel Schler, who also served as choreographer of Zaldy’s accompanying fashion film, creating a cohesive physical language across both film and runway. Schler’s movement brought Zaldy’s world to life, giving the collection—and its cast of characters—a sense of attitude, intimacy, and individuality.
