Top 13 Famous Fashion Photographers in the World
Fashion photography reflects vibrancy and fruitfulness. It is a matter of fact that most photographers who dream to be professionals generally intend to step into the world of fashion photography.
Now by fashion photography, we imply the portrayal of garment attires or any other fashionable pieces in an innovative and artistic manner.
In the fashion industry, we have many endowed and influencing names that took the fascination of photography to the next level with their remarkable and glamorous work.
This article presents such 12 famous fashion photographers in the world who are known for capturing the exquisiteness of people, their outfits, and their surroundings.
Famous Fashion Photographers To Get Inspired From
Technically, there are umpteen fashion photographers who made a name for themselves across the globe. However, our top picks of renowned fashion photographers around the world are listed below.
1. Mario Testino
Mario Testino is a globally recognized fashion photographer born in Peru. He collaborated with many international magazines like Vanity Fair, Vogue, QG, and V Magazine.
His backstory reveals he studied photography in London while working as a waiter. In 1983, his work came to light as it appeared in Vogue for the first time.
Then he rose to popularity through his work with A-list actors, musicians, and supermodels, as well as people he met during his trips.
A distinctive feature of Testino’s photographs is his images are authentic and fearless. They’re easily recognizable and impossible to close your eyes to. Testino’s most remarkable work originates from his pictures of royal members, particularly, Princess Diana.
Besides, he also created pictures for world-famous brands like Gucci, Chanel, Burberry, Calvin Klein, etc. Mario Testino has about 6 million followers on Instagram and 181.7K followers on Twitter.
2. Tim Walker
Tim Walker, a British fashion photographer, gets frequently featured in various influential magazines like W, Vogue, and Love. He has an astonishing portfolio.
Walker became interested in photography before starting college. After his graduation in 1994, he was working as an assistant photographer before he moved to New York. Then years later he returned and focused on documentary and portrait works for various British newspapers.
At the age of 25, he got to shoot for Vogue first time. Thus he entered the door of the fashion world and worked for British, American, and Italian editions.
Walker’s work is kind of pensive. He is mostly recognized for his visionary photography style. He mostly uses actual props and sites in his shooting. His images are positively peculiar with unusual make-up, viewpoints, and clothing.
The British Fashion Council awarded Walkerthe Isabella Blow Award in 2008. In 2009, he also received the Infinity Award presented by the International Center of Photography.
3. Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh was a fashion photographer and film director from Germany. He started his photography career in 1971 working for a magazine called Stern.
In 1990, he took the cover picture of Vogue’s British edition that emerged the period of supermodels. Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington got featured in that photo.
Peter favored black & white photography over colored ones. According to him, black & white can strike to help come through the visualization of reality.
He is known around the fashion world for his outstanding cinematic photographs. He is also acknowledged as a significant contemporary photographer among the best.
Throughout his career, Peter worked with Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Calvin Klein, Prada, and many such big brands and companies.
In 2019, Peter Lindbergh passed away at the age of 74. His Instagram account has followers of 1.5M.
4. Patrick Demarchelier
Now comes the name of another famous fashion photographer who is from France. This French photographer was first initiated into the fashion world in 1975 when he left for New York.
He is known to have worked with many prestigious publications like Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Rolling Stones, and Esquire. He was frequently involved with the shot of the cover photo of these.
Demarchelier’s name is also associated with many well-known and branded names from the fashion world. He worked with Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, L’Oreal, Calvin Klein, and many others.
Furthermore, he’s known to have worked with Leonardo Dicaprio and also played a vital role in establishing Princess Diana’s public image.
Many of Demarchelier’s images are shot in black and white too. Hence, he was capable of capturing the art of fashion colorless according to his preferences.
Patrick Demarchelier is no longer with us. He deceased in 2022 (last year). However, his account on Instagram gets notified with updates regarding upcoming exhibitions. His account has a following of 929K.
5. Cass Bird
Cass Bird is one of the best-known fashion photographers along with her feminine identity exploration. She’s an American photographer, director, as well as an artist.
She completed her graduation from Los Angeles’ Smith College, where she was born and brought up. Then she moved to New York and received recognition not long after for her captivating portrayals of people’s resistance towards the obstacles of societal standards.
She was able to shake the trend or craze of fashion with her brilliant projects. Her many shots got added to the Philadelphia Museum, Brooklyn Museum, etc. collections.
Her works got featured in The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Muse, Vogue, and several other eminent publications. As a matter of fact, her clients include figures and brands like Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, Target, J. Crew, etc.
As for her social media reach, Cass Bird’s Instagram comprises about 315K followers.
6. Steven Klein
An American filmmaker and photographer, Steven Klein is known for his conceptual, electric, subversive photography style.
He is based in NYC and has worked with big renowned companies like Chanel, Vogue, Tom Ford, etc., and many figures of pop culture.
Although Steven started out being a painter, later when things were not working he switched to pursue his career as a photographer.
However, it left an impact on him that is visible in his work. He often gets inspiration from classical art. As a result, we can see a lot of his fashion photographs bear a resemblance to paintings.
Fashion as a genre of photography is usually considered to have an alluring and blissful impact. Steven’s photography style goes beyond the conventional method and represents a kind of ‘gloomy’ or ‘moody’ vibes through his images.
Steven Klein holds 690K followers on his Instagram account.
7. Tony Kelly
Tony Kelly is originally from Ireland and he is a fashion photographer living in Los Angeles. His pictures hold a very dramatic style with a dazzling, glamorous, and colorful touch.
He started his career being a photojournalist before he entered the world of fashion. As a result, he shot many celebs and public figures in their day-to-day life.
Now he still photographs celebrities however as a fashion photographer. He shot many cover pictures for popular magazines including Vogue Paris, Vanity Fair, GQ, etc.
Tony’s photography style is known to be provocative, hyper-energetic, spontaneous, and plays with a sense of humor. He has around 304K followers on his Instagram.
8. Petra Collins
One of the most famous fashion photographers in the fashion industry is Petra Collins. She is an artist and a photographer from Canada. She explores to discover the difficulties and complexities of modern-day life.
Collins uses photography, art, music, film, and fashion to portray her artistic, innovative, and creative observation of things. She tries to view the complex connection of a young woman’s life online and offline.
She’s known to have a feminist image as well. Her photography style embraces the magnificence of bright neon and pastel colors.
Collins prefers film photography rather than digital ones and likes to use normal natural lighting or keep setups with minimal lighting.
In the fashion industry, she’s been associated with Vogue, i-D, etc. Also, she has worked together with Alessandro Michele (creative director of Gucci) and created many videos and promotional campaigns for the brand.
This young fashion icon and photographer’s Instagram account has more than a million followers.
9. Georges Antoni
One of the most famous and finest photographers’ of today’s fashion world is Georges Antoni. His birthplace resides in a countryside area in Australia. Being brought up there he initially had an interest in natural beauty.
Later on, as his career as a photographer began, he joined the fashion industry. Ever since he has been working with many prominent magazines that include Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Oyster, Marie Claire, etc. Thus he rose to the list of one of the prosperous and sought-after names.
What is more, Antoni’s clients are amongst the prestigious models and celebrities such as Rihanna, Jennifer Hawkins, Peter Alexander, Myer, David Jones, Hugo Boss, Miranda Kerr, and many more.
Antoni holds around 44K followers on his Instagram.
10. Giampaolo Sgura
Giampaolo Sgura is the name of among the most prominent and famous fashion photographers from Italy. It’s been a long time since he’s been in the industry and therefore he’s quite an experienced one.
Sgura studied architecture and then turned to photography as a fashion photographer. His works have been featured in several international editions like Allure, Vogue, GQ Style, Teen Vogue, Interview, and others.
Moreover, he collaborated with La Perla, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. for several campaigns as well.
Besides, he believes and tries to demonstrate authenticity through his pictures. He takes visually tempting and appealing but frank images.
Sgura prioritizes style in his work more than fashion. According to him, this is everlasting compared to momentary trends. He even worked with the likes of Irina Shayk, Katy Perry, and many others.
Giampaolo Sgura got 321K followers on Instagram, 12.1K followers on Twitter, and around 31K likes on his Facebook page.
11. Amanda Charchian
Amanda Charchian is another photographer in the fashion industry emphasising female sensuality. She is a photographer and an artist based in Los Angeles.
Her work demonstrates the models in a mystical and intimate way to achieve her goal of being simultaneous.
Charchian’s project has appeared in famous magazines like Vogue Italia, TIME Magazine, and AnOther Magazine. Her collaboration with big fashion brands such as Gucci, Cartier, Chloe, and many others is also apparent.
Amanda Charchian’s Instagram account boasts around 90K followers.
12. Pamela Hanson
Pamela Hanson is among those women who were able to make it in the industry of fashion photography at the start.
With the experience of more than 20 years, she has now become one of the most influential and demanding photographers in this community.
Hanson’s client list includes many internationally recognized big names such as Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, L’Oreal, and a lot more.
Her photographs mainly emphasize the natural textures and tones of her model’s skin and are really optimistic. They also give a lovely and blunt vibe which makes the images feel more real.
Pamela Hanson’s Instagram account holds nearly 87.2K followers.
13. Guy Bourdin
Known for being a provocative photographer in the fashion industry, Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) from France was a talented artist as well during the last century.
In the early stage of his career, he started by working mostly for Harper’s Bazaar and French Vogue. Then he also worked with big brands and companies like Bloomingdales and Chanel.
In 1987, he shot a campaign for Chanel which got him the Infinity Award presented by the International Center of Photography.
Apart from this, his usage of dreamlike aesthetics in his images makes his photographs exceptional. Some of his works now belong to the collection of museums like the Tate, MOMA, and Getty Museum permanently.
Wrapping Up..
Fashion kind of shapes and defines our way of thinking and living. By analyzing this genre of photography, we will be able to pick up the trends, events, and stories of other people’s lives.
Most often fashion photography is considered to be among the genres that are almost fine art. Many of these pictures get included in the collections of museums as well.
If you have an interest in fashion photography it is necessary to learn about its history and get updated about its latest trends.
Knowing and following these famous fashion photographers’ work can highly inspire us to understand the styles, strategies, and techniques of a successful photographer in the fashion industry.
