16. Steven Meisel - Photography

STEVEN MEISEL (New York, 1954)

Steven Meisel is unquestionably one of the most important and prolific fashion photographers of his generation. With a body of work remarkable for its imaginative range and diversity, he has achieved dominance in both editorial and advertising fashion photography. Meisel has been the principal photographer for the American and Italian editions of Vogue since the late 1980s, producing a continuous stream of covers and fashion editorials. He has also created some of the most memorable fashion advertising campaigns in history, working for Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent, among many others.

From an early age, Meisel was fascinated by fashion magazines, developing a lasting love for clothing and the photographic styles of the 1960s. While still in elementary school, he visited the studio of fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky hoping to meet the famous model Twiggy. During his high school years, he photographed models he encountered on the streets of New York, including Loulou de la Falaise and Marisa Berenson.

After graduating in fashion illustration from the Parsons School of Design, Meisel initially worked as an illustrator—first for Halston, then for Women’s Wear Daily (WWD). Unwilling to remain confined to the magazine’s offices, he took up a camera, taught himself photography, and spent weekends producing test shoots of young models and actresses. In these early photographs, Meisel handled hair, makeup, clothing, and photography himself. These images attracted the attention of editors at Seventeen, leading to assignments for Mademoiselle and eventually Vogue.

Unlike many fashion photographers who rely on a recognizable personal style, Meisel’s work is strikingly diverse. “Inspiration comes from everywhere,” he has said. “I’m eager to absorb new information: the subject can be the nineteenth century as long as it’s new to me. It can come from going grocery shopping or from looking at an artist from a million years ago.” Meisel insists that his style is in constant evolution, arguing that fashion itself is about change.

Meisel has also been instrumental in discovering and launching the careers of several supermodels, including Iman, Linda Evangelista, and Kristen McMenamy. He is perhaps the photographer most deeply informed about the fashion system itself, regularly attending runway shows and collection presentations, often possessing more direct knowledge than the editors he works with. His shoots frequently originate from a fashion concept rather than a purely photographic one.

From his earliest editorials in 1987, Meisel’s images demonstrated a profound knowledge of fashion photography history. He often cites and reinterprets iconic images by past masters, reworking them through contemporary styling, makeup, and hair. For this reason, he has sometimes been criticized for lacking an original style or for borrowing too heavily from earlier photographers. Yet his encyclopedic understanding of photographic history and his ability to reinvent it remain central to his practice.

Meisel is capable of shifting effortlessly from simple studio portraits to elaborate, cinematic stagings. He excels in group portraits, whether depicting the leading models of the moment or the fashion editors of Vogue America. In recent years, he has staged editorials addressing social themes such as war, rehabilitation, plastic surgery, pollution, and environmental issues.

A highly reclusive figure, Meisel rarely grants interviews and few photographs of him circulate publicly. He has published only a small number of books. One of the most controversial is SEX, created with Madonna, released in a sealed package and notorious for its extreme imagery. Another key publication is Steven Meisel: 1993 – A Year in Photographs, a catalogue presenting images made exclusively in 1993, a decisive year in his career. The exhibition and book were produced by Zara, a brand Meisel has collaborated with extensively.

His most recent major publication, released in September 2023, is Linda Evangelista Photographed by Steven Meisel. Featuring over 180 images taken over twenty-five years, the book documents an extraordinary creative symbiosis between photographer and muse.

In 2025, Zara and Steven Meisel collaborated on a collection and a video celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary. The film, 50 Years, 50 Icons, directed by Meisel, features an all-star cast of supermodels performing Donna Summer’s I Feel Love.