before Peter Lindbergh

The sad thing about public holidays in China is that they usually make you come in on the weekend to counter-balance the fact that you finally managed to score two extra days off work. Thankfully this Saturday, Peter Lindbergh swooped in and saved the day by giving a seminar up in UCCA along with VC, which meant we got to grab food sitting in the sun before listening to a fascinating two hour conversation between Lindbergh, Angelica, Jerome Sans, and Franca Sozzani, who just happened to drop by because she was in town. Sozzani and Lindbergh's collaboration has spanned over 20 years, and they had some hilarious and fascinating anecdotes about some of the greatest characters in the business.

On Helmut Newton; who would apparently, only ever take three snaps of anything, and when Sozzani complained about the horrible shot of the beautiful actress/model he was meant to be photographing, Newton would reply nonchalantly, without any qualms, 'but darling, she was awful'.

On Steven Meisel; 'there's only one fashion photographer for me - Steven Meisel, the others are photographers who shoot fashion'. (Franca Sozzani)

For Lindbergh therefore, it is the woman, not the fashion, which is of importance. As he said quite plainly in the talk, 'fashion is made for woman, woman is not made for fashion'. His best editorial work from the 1980s, 1990s, really showcase this as they feature women clad only in white shirts. His first cover for American Vogue in 1988, was not only a career-defining moment for Lindbergh, but eventually, as he recalls, came to signal a more seismic shift 'from rather formal women, quite perfectly styled and concerned about social integration and judgement, to more outspoken and adventurous women who controlled their own lives and were independent from masculine protection and social rules'. It is no coincidence of course, that this was also Anna Wintour's first cover for American Vogue. She had famously found Lindbergh's photographs buried in the bottom of a drawer, and saw exactly the statement she wanted to make: confident, powerful women and Christian-Lacroix-couture-with-$40-jeans.

Vogue, November 1988, by Peter Lindbergh