Wednesday’s Muse: Terry Richardson

17 Mar 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in book club, fashion, magazines, photography, 2 Comments

Classic Terry

Terry Richardson – an iconic name in designery-fashion circles. I was motivated to look up Terry Richardson properly when local fashion photographer Andrew Brauteseth was shooting me for the Virgin Active campaign and he said “I’m going to shoot you with a bright flash, Terry Richardson-style”, which sounded rather glam until this image jumped out at me on my google image search:

Uh... Richardson himself.

And that’s when I really got properly interested in this photobro. A little further reading lead to this informative review of a book I am now coveting called Terryworld, which gives a fascinating account of this ‘alternative’ photographer’s life. For those of you who don’t know who Richardson is, to quote the book:

“Who took 1970`s porn esthetic and made it fashion chic? Terry Richardson. Who made the trailer park trendy and the tractor hat de rigueur? Richardson again. Who`s equally at home in Vogue, Harper`s Bazaar, Purple and Vice? Our boy Terry. Who uses his fashion money to fund an X-rated website? Yes, Richardson. And who can`t resist getting his clothes off and jumping in front of his own lens? Well, that would be Terry Richardson as well.”

So that puts things in context. A little further reading and things start getting a little weirder…

“…The big recording contract, amazingly, eluded him. At eighteen Terry began shooting heroin. This followed the family’s move from Hollywood to the small, arty town of Ojai, ninety miles north of Los Angeles, in his senior year of high school. “That’s where I really got into drugs,” Terry says. “I was the punk kid from Hollywood and I got everyone into punk rock. We had gangbangs. There was one girl we called Heather Hosely. At fourteen she’d had a baby with a guy who was the leader of a commune. She was a great one…”

Hmm. Sounds a bit like my childhood, except instead of shooting heroine I was patting my dog, and instead of having gangbangs I had slumber parties. Ja, I was crazy like that.

Mmm, provocative.

Mmmmorning after big night out

Mmmm ironic

Mmmmacauley

And then today, I discovered this interview with a model who recounts her experience shooting with Richardson. If you will:

Rasmussen said: “I told him what you do is completely degrading to women. I hope you know you only [bleep] girls because you have a camera, lots of fashion contacts and get your pictures in Vogue.”

Hmmm. Saucy! Who can resist a little controversy? If you’re looking for a unique gift for someone who’s a fashion fanatic, or just something nice to give your dentist to put in his reception room to say thank you for the root canal (snigger), I’d put Terryworld on your list.

For more of this pervy genius, read Terry’s Diary, his blog.