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When Steven Klein made his debut in Vogue Italia at 22, he was, in his words an ‘enterprising’ photographer at the beginning of his career, who, set aside his studies in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, had already realized his dream: “I had burning desire t o see my photographs published in a prestigious magazine.” In addition to his presence in Vogue Italia, he began to create spreads for L’Uomo Vogue.
The change of pace came in 2000 when Anna Del lo Russo became the Editor-in- Chief. “Then I started doing all the covers for L’Uomo Vogue and the relationship continued for years.” A fruitful collaboration. In fact, as Anna Dello Russo recalled in the November issue of L’Uomo Vogue, Klein had immediately conquered her – “I had complete confidence in his way of portraying men: incredibly interesting. We photographed Cristiano Ronaldo at the beginning of his career, at the age of 18. It was Steven’s idea.” Klein acknowledges: “At the beginning, I was very influenced by my love of American culture, but the opportunity to col l aborate regularly with the editorial staff, and to do so in close contact, allowed me to expand my knowledge in terms of fashion and image creation, allowing me to create and produce great results. I worked closely with Franca Sozzani and Anna Del lo Russo who always gave me the freedom to choose the subjects that I was interested in photographing. Franca encouraged me to distinguish myself from others, and I never felt like I had to make compromises: we were only trying to make the best photographs possible.” Finding himself daily with celebrities such as Justin Timberlake (November 2002), Brad Pitt (to whom the entire May/June 2004 issue was dedicated), Prince (September 2004), Madonna (November 2005), but also lesser-known actors at the start of their careers, such as John Robinson ( July 2003), Ethan Hawke ( February 2004), or Chloë Sevigny ( December 2004), allowed Klein to build a library of anecdotes.
Like the t ime, while shooting David Bowie for the September 2003 cover, he had a problem with the Prada jacket that the singer was wearing: “So he whipped it off, flipped it inside out and I got the shot.” Or, for the Prince shoot: “Versace had specially created a coat that I didn’t consider suitable and so I quietly told him not to wear it. Prince put on his own clothes and everything went perfectly.” Klein the optimist. His most memorable photo session? “They are al l memorable, however in different ways, because I have worked with fantastic people. They all went well, I can’t recall a bad experience.” An admirable calmness, shaken only when someone searches for an underlying message i n his unsettling photos. For example: Do you consider yourself a spokesperson for the LGBT cause? “Yes, and for all humanity.” And if you insist: How important is ‘kink’ in your work? “I do not particularly like the term ‘kink’. Given that fashion photography is based on so-called ‘good taste’ and an idealistic sense of beauty, I like to challenge those perceptions by subverting different elements in a shot. It’s still my sense of humor and irony, but not a particular fetish.”
And, in the end, a bit of bitter regret comes out: “In today’s world, to end up on the cover of a magazine, you have to be promoting something, but at that time it wasn’t so.”