CULTURE

Exclusive Portraits of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Sade, Bono, and More In Their Glamorous, Glorious Youth

by Fan Zhong

Glamour, the incomparable photographer of old Hollywood glamour George Hurrell once explained to a young Matthew Rolston, was “a kind of a suffering look.” It was a nice turn of phrase to describe the laborious artifice of the pictures of Jean Harlow and Ginger Rogers that circulate in the collective memory of vintage movie stars, and Rolston, then a rising photographer in the 80’s, threw himself into recreating those highly-staged tableaux. Only, he was doing it for Interview magazine, then under the purview of its original founder Andy Warhol (himself a glamour devotee), and Rolston was casting the new stars of his era into the glory days of Tinseltown: Madonna he turned into Marlene Dietrich, Robert Downey, Jr. into a figure straight out of a Dashiell Hammett caper. A new book out now, Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles (teNeues), collects over 100 of Rolston’s portraits of the decade’s biggest stars, including Michael Jackson, Prince, Sade, Drew Barrymore, Bono, George Michael, Joan Didion, and more. Here, a look at some of the biggest icons of our time back in their beautiful, glamorous youth. As Warhol himself said, Rolston “gave them all class.”

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Prince, Portrait in Psychedelic Colors, Los Angeles, 1988. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Madonna as Marlene, Los Angeles, 1986. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Michael Jackson, King, Los Angeles, 1985. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

George Michael, Hand, London, 1988. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Sade, Without Makeup, Los Angeles, 1988. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Sylvester Stallone, Polo Pony, Los Angeles, 1989. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Cyndi Lauper, Headdress, Los Angeles, 1986. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Cybill Shepherd, Reclining, Los Angeles, 1986. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Steven Spielberg, Close Encounter, Los Angeles, 1977. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Molly Ringwald, 1920s Style, The Four Decades, Series, Los Angeles, 1985. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Brigitte Nielsen, Without Makeup I, Los Angeles, 1986. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Robert Downey, Jr., The Bad and the Beautiful, Series, Los Angeles, 1985. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Ethan Hawke, Method Portrait, Los Angeles, 1991. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Isabella Rossellini, Bird, New York, 1988. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Christy Turlington, Manta Ray, The Surreal Thing, Series, New York, 1987. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Lisa Bonet, Floating, Los Angeles, 1987. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Tom Waits, Bird, Los Angeles, 1986. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Drew Barrymore, Portrait as a Boy, Los Angeles, 1991. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Bono, Light Trails, Dublin, 1987. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Farrah Fawcett, Poor Little Rich Girl, Los Angeles, 1987. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Joan Didion, Eyeglasses, Los Angeles, 1983. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.

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Images © Matthew Rolston

Yohji Yamamoto, Atelier Portrait, Paris, 1985. From the book Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, published by teNeues.