Iconic Studio Portraits of Veruschka by Franco Rubartelli (1960s)

Posted by Embla on April 13, 2023

Veruschka, The Lion. Photo by Franco Rubartelli, 1967 via

Veruschka lying on the floor in a snakeskin-print catsuit embraces a cheetah. A photo from this shoot is published in the July issue of Vogue US, 1967. Photo by Franco Rubartelli via

An incredible hairdo. Photo by Franco Rubartelli, 1968 via

Smoke in your eyes. Photo by Franco Rubartelli, 1968 via

A combination of animal furs and prints. Photo by Franco Rubartelli, c. 1968 via

Embroidered maxi-coat trimmed with ostrich feathers. Photo by Franco Rubartelli, 1969 via

Stylish Bettina In Fath: Photos by Willy Maywald (1950s)

Posted by Embla on January 2, 2019

German photographer Wilhelm (Willy) Maywald (1907 – 1985) photographed for various fashion designers and his images were recognized internationally.

Maywald was known for photographing in unique scenes. He was one of the first fashion photographers to photograph his subjects in the streets of Paris. He had a way of photographing his subjects in these various places but the image still focused on the model/clothing. Although Maywald was the main photographer for Dior, he also photographed for several other fashion designers at the time, such as Jacques Fath.

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Bettina Graziani wearring Jacques Fath, photographed by Willy Maywald, 1950 via

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Bettina Graziani wearring Jacques Fath, photographed by Willy Maywald, 1950 via

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Bettina Graziani wearring Jacques Fath, photographed by Willy Maywald, 1950 via

Amazing French Fashion Photography by Georges Dambier

Posted by Embla on February 8, 2018

Georges Dambier was born in 1925 and was one of the first fashion photographers to take models out of the studio and into the streets. While he was still building and perfecting his craft, Dambier was hired by Helene Lazareff, director of ELLE, the fashion magazine, who encouraged him and gave him his first assignment as a fashion photographer.

During his career Dambier photographed amongst others: Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, Errol Flynn, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Cocteau, ou Colette, mais aussi Bettina, Capucine and Suzy Parker.

Georges Dambier did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion pictures, with models standing emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, he showed models smiling, laughing and often in action. His models were surrounded by local people in a market place in Marrakech, or in a village in Corsica, or – and above all – in his beloved Paris.

Capucine for ELLE, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris, Georges Dambier, 1952 via

Suzy Parker by Georges Dambier via

Suzy Parker Shop Lanvin, Elle, Georges Dambier, 1952 via

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Sophie Litvak and little dog, Elle, 1952 via

Pioneering fashion photography by Elsbeth Juda

Posted by Embla on February 5, 2018

Elsbeth Juda, known professionally as Jay (born 2 May 1911), is a British photographer most notable for her pioneering fashion photographs and work as Associate Editor and photographer for The Ambassador magazine between 1940-1965.

Juda was born in Darmstadt, Germany on 2 May 1911. At 18, she refused to go to Oxford as her father wished and went to Paris where she found work as secretary to a banker. In 1931, Elsbeth married her childhood love, Hans Juda, and they went to live in Berlin where he was a financial editor at the Berliner Tageblatt. In 1933, they fled Nazi Germany with nothing but a violin and moved to a one-room flat in London, a city she had been sent to frequently, if not happily, as a girl.

Juda studied photography under Lucia Moholy (wife of László Moholy-Nagy) formerly of the Bauhaus and started her long career in a commercial studio as “dark room boy”. In 1940, Hans became founding publisher and editor of The Ambassador, The British Export Magazine. Juda would later join the magazine as associate editor and fashion photographer as, unlike Hans, she spoke fluent English.

Elsbeth Juda via

Amazing Fashion Photography by Lillian Bassman

Posted by Embla on February 3, 2018

Lillian Bassman (1917–2012) was a photographer, art director, and painter best known for her work in fashion photography.

Bassman wanted to be a dancer, but an injury to her heel crushed that hope. Instead, she attended a vocational high school and studied textile design. She graduated in 1933.

From the 1940s until the 1960s Bassman worked as a fashion photographer for Junior Bazaar and later at Harper’s Bazaar where she promoted the careers of photographers such as Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Louis Faurer and Arnold Newman. Under the guidance of the Russian emigrant, Alexey Brodovitch, she began to photograph her model subjects primarily in black and white. Her work was published for the most part in Harper’s Bazaar from 1950 to 1965.

By the 1970s Bassman’s interest in pure form in her fashion photography was out of vogue. She turned to her own photo projects and abandoned fashion photography. In doing so she tossed out 40 years of negatives and prints – her life’s work. A forgotten bag filled with hundreds of images was discovered over 20 years later. Bassman’s fashion photographic work began to be re-appreciated in the 1990s.

The most notable qualities about her photographic work are the high contrasts between light and dark, the graininess of the finished photos, and the geometric placement and camera angles of the subjects. Bassman became one of the last great woman photographers in the world of fashion.

Lillian Bassman via

Lillian Bassman. Barbara Mullen (Blowing Kiss VARIANT), Harper’s Bazaar via

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Lillian Bassman. More Fashion Mileage per Dress, Barbara Vaughn, New York via

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Lillian Bassman. Southwest Passage – Sunset Pink: Model unknown, pajamas via

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Lillian Bassman, wedding dress via

Lillian Bassman. Fantasy on the Dance Floor: Barbara Mullen in a Christian Dior Dress, Paris. Harper’s Bazaar, 1949 via

Lillian Bassman via

Amazing Vintage Fashion Photography by George Platt Lynes (1940s)

Posted by Embla on October 29, 2017

George Platt Lynes (April 15, 1907 – December 6, 1955) was an American fashion and commercial photographer who worked in the 1930s and 1940s.

He developed close friendships within a larger circle of artists including Jean Cocteau and Julien Levy, the art dealer and critic. Levy would exhibit his photographs in his gallery in New York City in 1932 and Lynes would open his studio there that same year.

He was soon receiving commissions from Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, and Vogue including a cover with perhaps the first supermodel, Lisa Fonssagrives

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George Platt Lynes, Untitled, 1940s via

George Platt Lynes, Lisa Fonssagrives for Marshall Field, 1940 via

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George Platt Lynes, Lisa for Henri Bendel, 1940-41 via

George Platt Lynes, Evelyn Tripp, 1948 via

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George Platt Lynes, Fashion model in Lincoln Kirstein’s appartement, with Elie Nadelman sculpture, 1948 via

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George Platt Lynes, Untitled, 1940s via

George Platt Lynes, Madame Grès, Evening gown with peplum, silk jersey, 1940 via

The First Modern Fashion Photography Shoot: Paul Poiret by Edward Stechein (1911)

Posted by Embla on January 26, 2017

In 1911, publisher Lucien Vogel dared photographer Edward Steichen to promote fashion as a fine art in his work. Steichen responded by snapping photos of gowns designed by leading French fashion designer Paul Poiret, hauntingly backlit and shot at inventive angles.

The photographs were published in the April 1911 issue of the magazine Art et Décoration. According to historian Jesse Alexander, the occasion is:

“now considered to be the first ever modern fashion photography shoot,”

The garments were imaged as much for their artistic quality as their formal appearance

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