Fashion Photography for America 1999/2016 by Juergen Teller

A fitting lo-fi tribute to the photographer’s stripped-back vision of fashion imagery, championed by creative director Dennis Freedman.

German photographer Juergen Teller (born 1964) enjoyed a long-standing creative partnership with Dennis Freedman, the influential creative director of W magazine and the luxury department store Barneys New York. Between 1999 and 2016, the duo produced a remarkable body of iconic work, all captured in Teller’s signature raw, unvarnished style.

For his editorials in W, Teller rejected lavish productions in favour of authentic, anti-commercial narratives set in understated locations. His unforgettable first editorial in 1999, for example, cast Stephanie Seymour, Shalom Harlow, Naomi Campbell, and other models as office employees at the magazine itself. Their work for Barneys’ catalogues, produced between 2011 and 2016, continued this risk-taking approach by staging fashion shoots in unexpected locations such as Belgrade, Panama City, and Tirana. The resulting photographs juxtapose high fashion with eccentric settings and surreal scenarios, as models and actors interact with their surroundings in playful, often comic poses, creating a distinctly unconventional form of advertising.

For Fashion Photography for America 1999–2016, Teller rephotographed the original W magazines and Barneys catalogues from his own archive. This deliberately lo-fi approach immerses readers in the tactile process of sifting through the material, offering an intimate glimpse into the making and preservation of his work.

Fashion Photography for America 1999–2016, Juergen Teller. Steidl, 2024.

Format: Hardcover

Dimensions: 267 x 203 mm

Pages: 256

Illustration: 225 colour

Publisher: Steidl

ISBN: 9783969992951

Language: English