By Ingrid Schmidt
Models Gail Elliott, Natane Boudreau, and Annie Morton shot by Pamela Hanson for a 1996 Halston ad, featured in “Pamela Hanson: The 90s.”
“Pamela Hanson: The 90s” (Rizzoli), available at Books & Books.
Celebrated fashion photographer Pamela Hanson is in the spotlight this month. In addition to the new book, “Pamela Hanson: The 90s,” being published by Rizzoli, the lenswoman is also the focus of a new show at New York’s Staley-Wise Gallery, opening Sept. 18. Hanson first made a name for herself in the 90s by snapping candid photos of her friends in the Paris fashion world, bringing her carefree aesthetic to a buttoned-up industry. This new tome, available at Books & Books, celebrates her singular ability to capture “an essence of femininity,” as Hanson herself describes it. Exclusive to Bal Harbour magazine, she shares her tear-sheet notes and memories of shooting five iconic looks, which we’ve paired with some of this season’s freshest runway styles.
“I started going through my big storage unit in New York to organize negatives and decided to work on this book, which is really a compilation of pictures I love. I kind of fell into fashion because I love photography. A lot of my best friends were models, so I was just photographing my friends. I was never obsessed with the fashion as much as I was with the girls and the spirit of the moment. I happened to work with super-talented stylists like Brana Wolf, who was really influential to me. At the beginning, I just did beauty. Brana taught me how to incorporate the fashion. She understood the clothes. We just clicked…
For me, it was always about girls living in the clothes. Dressed up but just hanging around watching TV or having a drink with their girlfriends. I shot a lot in hotel rooms and cafés. It was an intimate thing. So in a way, the fashion is an accessory to the picture.
I’m still doing portraits; I’m just pickier about what I do. You know, changing to digital was a struggle for me. At the time of these pictures, it was all black-and-white. There is no retouching of any of the images in the book. I had really high-quality printers and processing in Paris. Things are different now. But that’s okay. You can’t go backwards.” —Pamela Hanson
Caped Crusader: 1989 Model Bobby, French Vogue, wearing Mauro Streano fan coat and Ray-Ban sunglasses; styled by Brana Wolf.
“If you have an article of clothing like that, you want to see movement. What we wanted to get was, Oh, there’s a cool girl running down the street in a beautiful coat!”
Slip Dressing: 1989 Model Anate Tanander, French ELLE, wearing Danielle de Blanzy silk satin tap pants; styled by Lena Kordic.
“I did a lot of beauty shots at first, because I was not that aware of fashion. It was very much a trademark of my work. Here, Anate kept brushing her hair until I was like, Stop! I love that picture. Fashion really is cyclical. John Galliano was one of the first to bring slip dresses into vogue.”
Furry Flurry: 1992 Emmanuelle Béart, Vanity Fair, wearing Emmanuelle Béart; styled by Anne-Séverine Liotard.
“At the time, actresses weren’t really doing fashion. So, this was about capturing Emmanuelle in the bedroom, kind of sensual and sexy. Her coat is falling off of her. Timeless. We were just hanging out. I always like to capture girls in life, getting ready to go out or having a cigarette and a coffee. Of course, cigarettes were around in that time; such a good prop. Now it looks really weird.”
On The Dot: 1994 Models Carolyn Murphy and Trish Goff, Vogue, wearing a Helmut Lang jacket and Ann Demeulemeester blouse (Murphy) and Dolce & Gabbana; styled by Brana Wolf.
“I did a lot of stories with Carolyn and Trish. They were friends at the time, so it was kind of a day-in-the- life. There were pictures of them at home, even walking down the street in Beverly Hills with a baby carriage. Sometimes I see a woman sitting, reading a paper, and I’m like, Oh, she’s so pretty; I want to know about her. That is the mood I’ve always gone for: Wanting to know the people in the photographs.”
Leading Lady: 1990 Model Cecilia Chancellor, Harper’s & Queen, wearing Gianfranco Ferré for Dior, Graham Smith for Harrods hat, Solange Azagury-Partridge earrings; styled by Hamish Bowles.
“Cecilia Chancellor was another one of my favorite models. She’s British. This was at C.Z. Guest’s estate on Long Island. It was a grown-up story, a ladylike story. That outfit is very Harpers & Queen. The clothes weren’t dictating her, she was dictating the clothes.”
All photography © Pamela Hanson / Courtesy of Rizzoli
