Linda Evangelista Photographed by Steven Meisel
£87.30£95.00 (-8%)
A stunning tribute to one of fashion’s most iconic and enduring collaborations
Evident from their first photoshoot in 1987, legendary photographer Steven Meisel’s images of Linda Evangelista, one of the original ‘supermodels’ of the 1980s, are the result of a remarkable creative symbiosis between photographer and muse. Featuring more than 180 images shot over the course of twenty-five years, this long-awaited book chronicles Meisel’s constantly evolving vision of Evangelista, pictured in a vast range of imaginative narrative contexts. Art directed by Jason Duzansky, the book includes an introduction by fashion editor William Norwich, which tells the story of their friendship and situates it in the wider context of the fashion industry. With gorgeous reproductions and packaged in a luxurious cloth case, this extraordinary title is Meisel’s first retrospective monograph. It celebrates a collaboration that has produced some of fashion history’s most memorable images.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Phaidon Press, 1st edition (13 Sept. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 232 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1838667032 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1838667030 |
| Dimensions | 35.56 x 2.86 x 45.47 cm |
by Laura L
Really beautiful book of Linda.
Came well packaged.
Happy with my order Thank you
by Literature_lover
Book quality –
First off, this book is huge! The paper is thick and it’s well printed with what appears to be a proper sewn binding not the glued ones that start to fall apart after a few years. As another reviewer has mentioned though, the choice of how they have applied the text (there’s no dustcover so the wording is directly ‘printed’ onto a cloth cover) is less good. It feels like over time the white embossing/printing will peel off and the choice of black fabric is sure to attract dust and fluff. So overall I think ‘4 stars’ for this is fair. Also while the paper is great, it is the type that is very unforgiving of fingerprints on the darker pages!
Content –
We have here about 11 pages (large printed text and some ‘behind the scenes’ photos) describing Steven and Linda’s relationship and their history. This was really interesting and informative, and I wish we could have more of this (a ‘behind the scenes’ for each photo would have been super juicy and interesting).
Then there are 200 pages of photos – spanning the late 80s to the early 2000s (I think the most recent picture is 2011) but the bulk really are from the 90s. The pictures are timeless – and by this I mean a photo from 1989 looks like it could have been shot today, none of them really seem dated. It appears to be (to my eyes) a lot of inspiration from Richard Avedon, and you see a real range of Linda with her different hairstyles and expressions over the years.
So why only 4 stars not 5?
Whilst the photos can’t be faulted, some do start to feel a little repetitive. Given the amount of photos these two must share, do we really need 10 pages dedicated to a Barneys F/W 1991 campaign? They all show Linda in the same type of hairstyle (and vintage Avedon feeling) so I’d rather have seen more of their other work together given one book can only cover a limited section of their work for obvious reasons.
And even if you were happy with the lack of ‘diversity’ of images selected, the order of the photos appears to be totally random. The images that are clearly from the same shoot (which we know given at the back there is a very helpful list of each photo with a date and who it was shot for) and yet they appear interspersed throughout the book.
I would have preferred the book in chronological order, but even if not, at least ‘theme’ it so similar photos are grouped together rather than a random scattering. With the Barney’s campaign maybe it’s ‘ok’ as there is no real ‘story’ here. But for sections of the famous ‘Makeover Madness’ editorial for Vogue Italia, why not put them all next to each other to give a certain mood?
And, while I appreciate this is totally subjective, some of the photos selected I just don’t feel are the ‘best’ that they could have found. Some photos really are great, but others seem a bit pedestrian, like some of the Vogue covers selected (mainly US and Vogue Taiwan oddly, the Vogue Italia covers are all pretty good) are nothing extraordinary and there are a number of shots that appear awkwardly cropped with the slight top of heads/hair missing (I’m not sure if they were originally printed like that in whichever magazine but surely a chance to rectify in the book as Meisel will have the originals?).
Overall – if you are a big fan of Meisel and or Linda this is a great book to have, especially Meisel as he doesn’t really have any books! But, I wish the photos would have been ordered or themed in a better way, and we had a more diverse selection. I would have loved to see more from Vogue Italia in the 90s. I think Evangelista’s range as a model is really unsurpassed (she is really believable in a number of different characters here, from Katherine Hepburn to even looking a bit like Marilyn Monroe and 50s model Dovima) – this book reflects best on her and her amazing modelling skills. Meisel has his moments of greatness, but Linda always delivers and really is the great model of the 90s.
If you like this style of fashion photography I recommend Avedon Fashion, it’s now out of print but has a great selection of photos and is more ‘diverse’ in range than this book. And for more photos of Linda, the (also sadly out of print) Peter Lindbergh’s 10 women is a great buy.