“The model has to give you the moment. It’s not you making it. They give it to you and you capture it.” – Peter Lindbergh
Perhaps the most iconic fashion photo book ever published, Peter Lindbergh: On Fashion Photography (published by Taschen) brings together four decades of work from the acclaimed German photographer who revolutionized the industry with his forthright humanistic, approach.
Peter Lindbergh was born Peter Brodbeck on November 23, 1944, in Leszno, Poland, but his family fled to Duisburg, Germany, when he was two months old due to Russian troop advances. The industrial landscapes of Duisburg and the artistic movements of 1920s Russia and Germany profoundly influenced his visual style. Though initially he worked in a department store, he later studied art in Berlin. His photography career began unexpectedly when he discovered his passion for taking pictures of his brother’s children.
In 1971, Lindbergh moved to Düsseldorf and later to Paris in 1978 to expand his career, where he changed his last name from Brodbeck to Lindbergh due to the presence of another photographer with the same name.
Lindbergh is often credited as the driving force behind the era of the supermodel, providing the launchpad for the careers of icons like Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista. His work with these models, along with many others, defined a new era in fashion photography.
This evolution can be traced back to his groundbreaking 1988 group photo for American Vogue, featuring Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Estelle Léfebure, Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, and Tatjana Patitz. The models, casually dressed in underwear and oversized white shirts, posed on a Malibu beach, embodying Lindbergh’s natural, understated style that would come to define his photographic legacy.
Two years later, shot his first Vogue cover (for the British edition), once again featuring Evangelista and Turlington, this time joined by Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Tatjana Patitz. This group portrait became a defining image of the supermodel era and famously inspired George Michael’s 1990 “Freedom” music video, featuring the same models. These two images helped cement standing out for their authenticity and effortless style. The models appeared relaxed, with minimal makeup and seemingly no retouching, allowing their personalities to shine through in a way that had rarely been captured before.’s reputation, standing out for their authenticity and effortlessness. The models appeared relaxed, with minimal makeup and seemingly no retouching, allowing their personalities to shine through in a way that had never been done before.
Lindbergh believed that the beauty of those he photographed came from their personalities as much as their outer appearance, a considerable diversion from the status quo of fashion photography at the time. Legendary Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour recognized the merit of Lindbergh’s vision, commissioning him to shoot her first cover after becoming editor of American Vogue in 1988, and he went on to shoot numerous covers for the magazine throughout his career.
His natural approach was achieved in part by allowing models to express themselves in ways not typically done in fashion shoots. He fostered spontaneity and viewed the process as collaborative rather than a photographer-subject dynamic. Despite this relaxed interaction, his compositions were always carefully considered, often conveying a real sense of narrative in a manner often described as ‘cinematic’. Lindbergh was one of the first photographers to incorporate storylines into his fashion editorials. In fact, his 1990 shoot of Helena Christensen as a Martian for Italian Vogue is viewed by many as the inception point in the evolution of narrative-based fashion editorials.
Beautifully presented in large scale, this edition of ‘On Fashion Photography’ features 300 images (many previously unpublished) from across Lindbergh’s career. It includes his extensive editorial work for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and many other publications, as well as his commercial campaigns for fashion’s most iconic names.
The book also includes an updated introduction in which Lindbergh discusses ‘so-called fashion photography’. Despite being synonymous with the industry, Lindbergh cared little for fashion itself. While he respected designers, he was open about the fact that it was the people, not the clothes, who inspired him.
The final image in the book is a behind-the-scenes shot from the iconic 1990 British Vogue cover shoot, showing a seated Lindbergh surrounded by five of the models he helped elevate to supermodel status (Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz and Stephanie Seymour). It is a heartwarming scene: Lindbergh radiates a quiet warmth, exuding a shy yet comfortable presence. For all his creativity, vision, and technical mastery, perhaps his greatest gift was making his subjects feel completely at ease, allowing him to capture their true selves. That is the Lindbergh I choose to remember.
All images © Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh. On Fashion Photography is published by Taschen and is available via their website.