by Ellen von Unwerth
Claudia Schiffer for Guess, 1989
Artist: Ellen von Unwerth
Made in 1989 for the Guess campaign that launched both their careers, this black-and-white portrait catches a nineteen-year-old Claudia Schiffer in a floral lace bustier and hoop earrings, hair blown loose across one eye as she turns to the camera. Von Unwerth, herself newly turned from modelling to photography, shoots on grainy film in soft available light, the background dissolving to a blur behind the sharp turn of the face. It is the frame that defined a Bardot-for-the-nineties look and made Schiffer a star.
Read as fine art, the picture is a study in the making of an icon, a young model caught at the exact moment of becoming, poised between girl-next-door and screen siren. The theme is allure as invention, von Unwerth building a whole persona from a windblown fringe and a level gaze, the subject already entirely in command of the camera she is meeting. This is also a landmark in the photographer’s own story, one of the images that turned her into a defining eye of fashion photography. The work suits a considered, characterful interior and speaks to collectors drawn to fashion photography’s crossover into fine art. Ellen von Unwerth’s photographs are issued as limited editions, each print part of a controlled run.
Sizes & Editions
180 × 120 cm (70⁹⁄₁₀ × 47⅕ in), black-and-white print on baryta paper
Size: medium
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