Polaroids

Guy Bourdin (1928–1991) created some of the most challenging and seductive fashion photography of the last century. He worked for French Vogue for over 30 years, from 1955–1987, and his images filled the pages of international fashion magazines during the 1970s and 1980s in groundbreaking campaigns for Charles Jourdan, Bloomingdales and Dior. His high-glamour, yet often surreal work revolutionized the genre of fashion photography, presenting fashion as the luxurious embellishment rather than the subject of his photographs, which foreground dark fantasies of lust, consumption and desire. Bourdin’s legacy can still be seen in the work of photographers such as Stephen Meisel and Helmut Newton. This accessible monograph is the perfect introduction to his work.