Revisit Juergen Teller’s Legendary ’90s Modeling Go-Sees Photos, Featuring a Pale, Teenaged Gisele
Over the course of a year, beginning in May of 1998, the German photographer Juergen Teller took at least 462 photos from the doorway of his London studio, capturing the models who visited him before or after they came in. Teller documented all of those so-called “go-sees,” which are still common practice in the industry today but which he nevertheless had a fascination with—and had initially had tried to circumvent by visiting the agency offices himself. “I thought it was a weird idea—girls coming to see me as a man,” Teller said recently. His dogged documentation, currently on view in an exhibition up at Alison Jacques Gallery in London through January 13, has since become the stuff of legend, showcasing Teller’s early talent for injecting a raw glamour into any old space, as witnessed more recently with, say, Oprah; the range of personality in the models’s reactions and sense of style, from the meek to those itching to show off their ballet training; and, of course, the early snapshots of young models who would soon become legends, from a waifish Mariacarla Boscono tugging at her cardigan to a teenaged, notably less tan Gisele, who posed atop a Mercedes looking surly in socks and Birkenstocks. Take a look back in time, here.
1
Lori Fredrickson, London, 4th February 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
2
Lara, London, 4th March 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
3
29th October 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Catherine Maurice, London, 30th March 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Dominique, London, 29th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Jen Dawson, London, 3rd December 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Vicky, London, 8th October 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Lori Fredrickson, London, 23rd March 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Mariacarla, London, 18th February 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Carmel, London, 10th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Gisele, London, 28th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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26th February 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Amy Howsam, London, 11th March 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
14
Lucy Gordon, London 14th May 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Jan Dunning, London, 24th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Lauren, London, 18th February 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
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Carmel, London, 10th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
18
Vesna, London, 24th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
19
Phoebes’ mother, London, 24th September 1998. Photo by Juergen Teller.
20
Gemma, London, 29th March 1999. Photo by Juergen Teller.
