EYE CANDY

Up Close and Personal Portraits of Fashion’s Icons, Including Yves Saint Laurent and His Chihuahua

by Steph Eckardt

1_Alice Springs_Yves Saint Laurent_Paris 1978_copyright Alice Springs.jpg
© Alice Springs

Even though she just turned 95, Alice Springs is still largely unknown, which was in large part by her own design. Early on in her career as a photographer, she changed her name from June Newton to dissociate her work from that of her husband Helmut Newton. Increasingly, though, she’s been garnering the attention she deserves—most recently as part of an exhibition showcasing photographs from the collection of Carla Sozzani, the sister of the late Franca Sozzani and gallerist, who over the years has closely collaborated with photographers including the Newtons. (The show is on display at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, alongside “Alice Springs. Portraits,” in honor of the photographer’s birthday.) Appropriately, many of the faces in the latter exhibition are familiar to both: the late couturier Azzedine Alaïa, for one, was a close friend of Sozzani’s (she now cochairs the foundation protecting his legacy), and Diana Vreeland, who was fired as the editor of Vogue for being too creative, was the one to make Sozzani proud when she herself was fired from Elle. Here, a look at intimate photographs of these fashion icons and more like Sonia Rykiel and Yves Saint Laurent, the latter of whom shares his portrait with his chihuahua Hazel.

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© Alice Springs

Sonia Rykiel, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1980. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.

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© Alice Springs

Ralph Gibson, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1984. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.

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© Alice Springs

Yves Saint Laurent, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1978. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.

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© Alice Springs

Diana Vreeland, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1983. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.

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© Alice Springs

Azzedine Alaïa, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1982. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.

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© Alice Springs

Emanuel Ungaro, photographed by Alice Springs in Paris, 1979. On view at the Helmut Newton Foundation in the exhibition “Alice Springs. Portraits” in Berlin.