And I am back to photography. I guess nothing else tells you a story better than a beautiful photo. I was going through the images online and I came across these beautiful photos in black-and-white of actresses singers models. That’s how I learned about Francesco Scavullo .Born in 1921 in New York. His father was a wealthy casino owner and restaurateur. The glamorous world that was around him had a big impact on his childhood. He was fascinated by dressing up and quite often he was observing his mother getting all done up for a day .”My mother made the transformation from Cinderella every day of life”The other lady that had the big impact on his carrier was Greta Garbo. For the first time he saw her in the movies in 1933: “the camera almost choked me with this close-up of a woman called Garbo! Magic it was for me. Images. Fantasy. Sure, it was total escape into a world of imagination ”
“I definitely wanted to make everyone look like a movie star . I was always looking at my mothers fashion magazines . What I saw were the beautiful women”
Today looking at his photography we can observe his imprints of glamour, sexuality and beauty on each of his works . At the beginning of his career he worked with best photographers in Vogue. He learned from the best but to become one of them he decided to take his own way by leaving Vogue and making his way to other magazines. Yet assisting to such photographers like Horst P Horst, Beaton and John Rawlings was a great school. He learned how he could make beautiful woman sublime by filtering light through white muslin cloth or by bouncing it off white umbrella, techniques which would Iron out imperfections and make skin luminous.
Scavullo’s great break was becoming one of the most important photographers for Cosmopolitan magazine . For 30 years he was Cosmo cover photographer. He photographed models and actresses like Farrah Fawcett, Già Garangi , Brook Shields and many others who became beauty and fashion icons later in their carriers. ” everyone knew the Cosmo Girl “…… ” and everyone wanted to become a Cosmo girlSupremely successful as a fashion photographer, Scavullo was also in great demand as a portraitist. Over his long career he photographed thousands of actors, musicians, writers, artists and designers. His subjects included Calvin Klein and Grace Kelly, Gore Vidal, Elizabeth Taylor, Janis Joplin, Kim Basinger, Diana Ross, Brad Pitt, Mick Jagger and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He photographed Andy Warhol and his Superstars (Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling) many times, and, as new stars moved into the celebrity firmament, he photographed David Bowie, Debbie Harry and Madonna.Almost every star in the celebrity firmament came in front of Scavullo’s camera. Sometimes, they paid him for the privilege, as word got around that Scavullo’s camera, and his team of stylists, hairdressers and make-up artists, could perform miraculous makeovers. In the end, he was probably as famous as the people he photographed. He made plain people look beautiful, and beautiful people magnificent.
“I’m impressed by glamour,” he told an interviewer. “I’m impressed by beauty. I’m impressed by charming people. I’m impressed! I’m impressed