VISION OF LOVE

Roxanne Lowit has been snapping celebs and supes since the ’70s. Here, the fashion photographer opens up on the lavish lives she’s captured on film. By ELIO IANNACCI

“IMAN PARIS,” 1990

FOR ALMOST FOUR DECADES, ROXANNE LOWIT HAS CHRONICLED

the secret lives of supermodels and celebrities with her camera. In that time, she has published four books, been represented by a number of top art spaces (including Toronto’s own Izzy Gallery), travelled the world and been invited to some of the most outlandish and audacious fashion bashes in history. The years have been supremely kind to Lowit, who, at 73, when she’s not jetting to fashion capitals for work, spends time scouring the underground club scene in her native New York. TELL ME ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU KNEW PHOTOGRAPHY WAS THE CAREER FOR YOU. “I’d go to fashion shows because I was a textile designer before I was a photographer. I had no reason to be out front with the magazine and newspaper editors and the photographers, so I took pictures for inspiration from the back or backstage. Someone from the Soho News looked at my [photographs] and asked me if I was going to Paris. They told me I could shoot the shows for them, but I had to buy a real camera because I had a 110 millimetre one. So I went out and bought a 35 millimetre and went to Paris. I read how to load film for the camera on the plane—I didn’t have a clue! I ended up at the Yves Saint Laurent show and, after the show, I went to a party at the Eiffel Tower and saw Andy Warhol. I thought, ‘It can’t get any better than this!’” WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO IS A VISIONARY AND SOMEONE WHO IS REGARDED AS A PETTY THIEF? “They say a good photographer is someone who always steals an image in a clever way. You can see a petty thief from a mile away. We don’t want to know those guys!” DO YOU EVER GET A SECOND OPINION BEFORE SENDING YOUR WORK OUT? “My daughter is my second pair of eyes. She’s a very strong critic and very honest. When she says, ‘This is really great,’ I know she’s telling the truth.” ANDRÉ LEON TALLEY SAID THAT THIS NEW GENERATION IS LIVING THROUGH “A FAMINE OF BEAUTY.” TRUE OR FALSE? “He’s right. Beauty exists only on certain levels now. Look at all the old movies with the men in their fabulous hats and the women who looked gorgeous on purpose. They had matching gloves and »