Now On: Diana, Princess of Wales by Mario Testino

 

From rags to riches Mario Testino had to seriously graft to get where he is today. From his birthplace in Lima, Peru, he arrived in London during the mid-70s with nothing more than a burning ambition and endless enthusiasm. He took a flat in an abandoned hospital in central London and started out by working on aspiring model portfolios, make-up and styling included. After years of knocking on closed doors they began to open and by the time the 1990s rolled around Testino was becoming a well-known industry name.

 

 

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Known for his super-slick ad campaigns and his glossy editorial spreads, Testino’s style combines beauty and luxury with a touch of reality. His shoot with the late Princess of Wales for Vanity Fair got attention galore – here was the Princess as we had never seen her before. She may have been wearing a range of evening gowns created by the likes of Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield, Hachi and Victor Edelstein but her expression and poise was candid and relaxed.

 

 

{mosimage}Speaking to Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs, Radio 4, Testino said: “It’s funny – when the pictures came out, people said to me, ‘My God, you’ve changed her,’ and I thought, I didn’t do that much…I don’t like falseness, I like reality. I think in an unconscious way, I just wanted to feel that whoever would see the pictures would feel that they were with her.”

 

 

{mosimage}One part of being a great portrait or fashion photographer that many forget is having that essential rapport with the sitter/model. Testino excels in this area making those in his lens relax and pose with ease. He mentions this in his interview with Lawley: “I said to her (Diana), ‘It’s really difficult for me to call you Ma’am because I call my mother Ma’am and you’re younger than me!’ And she said, ‘Oh don’t worry, just call me Diana,’ which already broke the ice. We started chatting and I said, ‘Let’s do it as if we’re just having a conversation, the two of us, on the sofa.’ And that’s how I started photographing her.”

 

 

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The images have an incredibly strong presence; blown-up to huge proportions for the exhibition you feel the eyes of Diana all around you. A number of photographs on display appeared in the July 1997 edition of Vanity Fair while others are being shown for the first time. United with the images are nine of Diana’s auctioned-off gowns, including four which were worn during the photo-shoot. Set appropriately in Kensington Palace, two former state apartments have been redecorated with special commissions by Thomas Messel and Neisha Crosland.

 

 

Diana Princess of Wales by Mario Testino at Kensington Palace is now on until 1^st July 2007. Call 0870 751 5180 for further details. 

 

{mosimage} A book also accompanies the show – Taschen, 144 pages, GBP 19.99/ USD 39.99. Features include: Foreword by Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, introduction by Meredith Etherington-Smith, who played a major role in arranging the sitting in 1997 and an interview with Mario Testino conducted by Hamish Bowles.

 

 

 

By JoJo Iles