In 1988, Peter Lindbergh photographed the White Shirts series on a Malibu beach, images now known worldwide. As simple as they were influential, these photographs introduced us to Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Rachel Williams, Karen Alexander, Tatjana Patitz, and Estelle Lefébure. This marked the beginning of an era that redefined beauty. Lindbergh continued to change the fashion photography landscape over the following decades.
This edition gathers more than 300 images spanning forty years of Lindbergh’s career. It traces the cinematic echoes and humanistic approach of the German photographer, resulting in images as seductive as they are introspective.
In 1980, Rei Kawakubo asked Lindbergh to shoot a campaign for Comme des Garçons, one of his first ventures into commercial photography. Kawakubo gave him free rein. The following years saw collaborations with the most revered names in fashion, from which a relationship of mutual reverence was born; Lindbergh’s respect for some of the best designers of our time is palpable in his portraits. Among those photographed are Azzedine Alaïa, Giorgio Armani, Alber Elbaz, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Thierry Mugler, Yves Saint Laurent, Jil Sander, and Yohji Yamamoto.
Considered by many a pioneer in his field, Lindbergh defied industry beauty standards to celebrate the essence and individuality of the people he photographed. He was a key figure in the rise of models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Mariacarla Boscono, Lara Stone, Claudia Schiffer, Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, and Kristen McMenamy.
Lindbergh’s influence also reached Hollywood and beyond: Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Richard Gere, Isabelle Huppert, Nicole Kidman, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Catherine Deneuve, and Jeanne Moreau appear in his works. From the image chosen by Anna Wintour for the cover of her first issue of Vogue to the legendary photo of Tina Turner at the Eiffel Tower, it is never the clothes, fame, or glamour that take center stage in a Lindbergh photograph. All images convey the humanity of the photographed subjects with a melancholy that is uniquely and unmistakably Lindbergh.
From the start of his career, Lindbergh was known in the contemporary art world: his photographs were exhibited in galleries long before appearing in magazines. This edition features an updated introduction, adapted from a 2016 interview, offering insight into Lindbergh’s perspective, where the photographer recounts his early collaborations, the fragile relationship between commercial art and fine arts, and the power of storytelling.
