Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel – Early fascination for the world of fashion and beauty

Steven Meisel was born in New York City on 5 June 1954. He was already greatly interested in fashion and models as a child; he ignored his toys and instead drew beautiful women like he saw in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. His fascination for this subject was so pronounced, that even at the age of 12, he convinced his female friends to phone modelling agencies pretending to be Richard Avedon’s secretaries asking for pictures of models. Meisel himself lingered outside Melvin Sokolsky’s studio to meet his favourite model Twiggy in person. He eventually attended the High School of Art and Design and the Parsons School of Design, where, after trying out various courses, he decided to major in fashion illustration. Meisel found his first real position with the fashion designer Halston, whilst working on the side as a lecturer at Parsons School. 

International breakthrough with photography

Steven Meisel soon developed great enthusiasm for photography, which pushed his interest in illustration to the side. Photographers such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Jerry Schatzberg and Bert Stern soon became his new role models. Meisel viewed the medium of photography as more enduring than drawing. Whilst still working as an illustrator for the fashion magazine Women’s Fashion Daily, he presented himself to the Elite Model Management modelling agency and received permission to photography their models, one of whom was Phoebe Cates. The pictures were taken on weekends in his apartment or on the street. The teen magazine Seventeen noticed Meisel’s pictures and gave him many commissions. Steven Meisel went on to work for various major fashion magazines, especially Interview, co-founded by Andy Warhol, as well as for American and Italian Vogue. He also provided title photographs for successful album and single releases by international stars such as Madonna and Mariah Carey. 

One of the most successful photographers of the fashion industry

Steven Meisel became one of the most influential photographers of the fashion industry and played a significant part in the careers of numerous renowned models including Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Guinevere Van Seenus. He shot campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Versace, Balenciaga, Valentino and since 2004, regularly for Prada. His personal friendship with Madonna resulted in photo sessions for Vanity Fair and Louis Vuitton and the scandalous book SEX which contained soft pornographic and sadomasochistic pictures as well as photos of Madonna, Isabella Rossellini, Naomi Campbell, Helmut Berger and Udo Kier. The provocative photos were banned in some countries as pornography, and also aroused displeasure amongst feminists, even though the influential Vogue editors-in-chief Anna Wintour and Franca Sozzani expressly stood up for Meisel and his work. In 2008, Steven Meisel photographed only dark-skinned models for an issue of Italian Vogue in protest against racism in the fashion industry.