Along with several other luminaries of his generation, Gian Paolo Barbieri helped create the foundation for modern fashion photography. By pushing fashion photography beyond the fashion commerce, the depth of Barbieri’s photographs forces us to treat them as art as well as commerce. I had the opportunity to ask Barbieri a few questions about being a pioneer in his field and what it takes to create a legacy.
For over 60 years, Barbieri has been one of the most influential international photographers in the fashion world.
Collaborating on some of the biggest advertising campaigns for international fashion brands such as Valentino, Gianni Versace, Gianfranco Ferré, Giorgio Armani, Bulgari, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce & Gabbana and Vivienne Westwood. His work has flooded the pages of Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris, Vogue America, L’Officiel, GQ and Vanity Fair.
Barbieri has a new exhibition at 29 ART IN PROGRESS Galleries and a documentary of the same name from Wanted Cinema, about his life and work, will be widely available in early 2023.
Barbieri’s work is iconic and continues to be relevant today, decades after he began filming. Barbieri’s work has such longevity because he captures ideas and attracts willing viewers. Barbieri’s photos are not only pretty pictures, but conversation starters.
Details Create an image
Barbieri is known for her attention to detail on set. It seems that no detail is too small for Barbieri in creating his images, advertising campaigns, editorials or personal work.
His stage is rigorous, meticulous, planned down to the smallest details.”
For example, Barbieri’s images of Laura Alvarez immersed in the Orinoco River next to a caiman in Venezuela for Vogue Italia and Armani, 1976, are among his most famous. Famous in part because Barbieri combined Armani’s pink with Venezuelan features, making color a staple in the photo and helping the image stand out almost 50 years later. By using pink feathers and pink orchids sourced from the local flora and fauna found in the Venezuelan nature and used in Venezuelan cultural dress, the images are not only fashionable but also about the region. point.
Digging deeper, Barbieri asked Mr. Mori, a local craftsman, to make a glass mask to help amplify Alvarez’s horror of being surrounded by caimans and piranhas. By spending a lot of time considering each element of her images, Barbieri transcends fashion photography, creating surreal dreamy images that allow for interpretation. His visuals engage viewers, encouraging them to do more than judge the fashion trends of the day, while questioning the images and their meanings, and encouraging viewers to participate.
deep inspiration 
Most certainly the clothes that Barbieri shoots inspired his pictures. However, great fashion photos don’t just stop at clothes, they try to make a connection with bigger ideas and thus create bigger images; Images inspire more conversation and ultimately consideration. Ever since Barbieri was a child, the attraction he felt to cinema, theater and art in general has always influenced the way he sees the world. Barbieri’s curiosity to see and know more about the world around him became the driving force of his life’s work. The thirst for the new is what helps Barbieri, and any photographer for that matter, continue to grow and surprise, even with themselves.
I have always loved art, in all its incarnations. Ever since I was a child, theatrical and cinematic inspiration has played an important role. Reading widely, studying classical art, looking to the great masters of the past, or simply looking around me to see what enlivens my surroundings, I have cultivated an artistic eye. his art.
In recent years, Barbieri has been working on a Shakespeare-inspired project, scheduled for around 400 years since Shakespeare’s death. For Barbieri, this project is about exploring Shakespeare through his own thoughts and visions. Here, he chose characters from Shakespeare’s works and interpreted them in a modern way through his own lens. Again, create space for conversation in the viewer beyond the simple reflection of the usual pictures and images. 
charming
Perhaps one of Barbieri’s greatest enduring influences is the idea of seduction. Not just pure sexual seduction, although that certainly plays a part, but seduction in the sense of seduction and seduction. Barbieri has spent most of her life trying to talk about attractiveness.
I’ve always tried to seduce with photography, that’s exactly what photography means to me.
Glamor is everywhere in Barbieri’s work. Such are the lines of flowers, rocks and surf in Tahiti as well as the curves and sensuality of his commercial work. Fashion photography from the 70s, just like fashion photography today, uses sex and glamor to sell. I find it interesting that Barbieri’s idea of seduction is geared more towards more self-aware women. In an age where the objectification of women or the gaze of male curiosities is what makes big budgets, Barbieri’s work doesn’t seem to be exploitation, it still feels like a conversation. Again, an approach that gives his work a sense of relevance that many modern fashion photographers, let alone his contemporaries, lack.
Heritage
Barbieri mentions in the film that photography varies depending on the person holding the camera. If you only photograph what is in front of you, if you don’t ask questions, don’t test your own ideas, don’t create a conversation, then you don’t create a legacy. You need to generate ideas, not just pictures.
I want time to stop to really understand the happiness that caresses me and slips through my fingers instead.
For Barbieri, his only regret seems to be not stopping long enough to observe and listen to himself. By spending more time on your own thoughts and immersing yourself in the world around you, your images will be richer, they will be conversations and ideas, not just pixels.
All images provided by Gian Paolo Barbieri, Courtesy of Fondazione Gian Paolo Barbieri and 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS Gallery.
