Farewell to Patrick Demarchelier, creator of icons

Yesterday photographer Patrick Demarchelier died in Saint Barthes at the age of 78. During his career, which lasted practically sixty years and began when the photographer was only twenty, Demarchelier had portrayed the protagonists of pop culture of at least three different generations. By the late 1980s, his career had peaked with his appointment as Lady Diana's personal photographer, to whom he took photo shoots that have remained famous. Among his masters were Henri Cartier-Bresson and Hans Feurer. After moving to the USA in 1975, he became the principal photographer for Harper's Bazaar and then became the principal photographer for Condé Nast, signing some famous Vogue covers that, among other things, attracted the attention of Diana Spencer - he was the first non-British photographer to be hired by the British royal family. 

His is the hand behind the portraits and some album covers of Madonna, his are the shots for the Pirelli calendars from 2005 to 2008, his is the appearance in the film Sex & The City in the role of himself. Even Miranda Priestly of The Devil Wears Prada had mentioned him in a dialogue of the famous film. Despite their high degree of formal perfection, Demarchelier's photos were often taken on the basis of instinct - there was not too much study or preparatory process. In 2018, a series of unspecified allegations of misconduct published in an article in The Boston Globe cost him his position at Condé Nast, and but upon his death, VIPs around the world still remembered him fondly. His influence will be felt throughout the world of fashion photography which, through his work, he helped to evolve and take further.