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Patrick Demarchelier, the photographer whose style helped defined the easy glamor of 1990s Harper’s Bazaar, and whose career came to an end amid #MeToo allegations of sexual assault, died on Thursday at age 78. His family announced the photographer’s death on his Instagram page; the cause was not immediately known.
Demarchelier, who was born in France, was a classicist: his images of Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss, and Christy Turlington were more like portraits than fashion photographs. His camera seemed to bring something out from within–some inner quality of grace and ease. In the 1990s, he had a friendship with then-Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis that saw him shoot essentially exclusively for the magazine, helping to construct the signatures of 1990s fashion photography. His style prized cleanness, and secure but never imperious beauty. His work marked a departure from the highly narrative editorials of the 1970s and 1980s, instead radiating effortless confidence.
His most famous photos shared an uncluttered sensuality, from Nadja Auermann with a scarf knotted around her head, to Princess Diana grinning in her tiara, to Janet Jackson on the cover of Rolling Stone, her then-husband’s hands cupping her breasts. His subjects always appeared dynamic and in control–never stiff, never showing off the clothes, though his eye complemented perfectly the minimalist designs of that era by talents like Calvin Klein, Helmut Lang, Prada, and Giorgio Armani. In fact, it was Demarchelier who introduced Calvin Klein to Kate Moss: after he shot her for Bazaar, the photographer went to Klein and recommended he cast her as well, the model told Bazaar for a short profile on Demarchelier in 1995. In addition to his work for Bazaar, he was well-regarded for his advertising campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein and Dior.
To those outside the fashion bubble, he was perhaps best known as Princess Diana’s personal photographer. His photographs of her embodied the qualities that have made her image feel timeless: glamor and freshness, a pitch-perfect mix of high style and natural beauty. He took portraits of her that remain some of the best-known of the royal, including the image, taken in 1991 and featured on the November 1997 cover of Harper’s Bazaar, that showed her dressed in an armorial, studded sleeveless gown by her friend Gianni Versace, with her short hair slicked back.
alleged to The Boston Globe
His departure from the industry spelled the end of a crisp and understated style of fashion photography, and a new generation of image makers has emerged since to rewrite the codes. Still, his influence can be seen in the continuing prevalence of celebrities in the art form, in which actors and musicians are vessels for runway clothes as often as models.
But Demarchelier’s career came to an abrupt end in 2018 when a multitude of models as well as interns and young employees that the photographer had made sexual advances to them on set and in the workplace. Demarchelier denied the allegations at the time, calling them “ridiculous”; in the aftermath, most magazines and brands ceased working with him. (Demarchelier stopped shooting for Harper's Bazaar in the early 2000s.)
Rachel Tashjian is the Fashion News Director at Harper’s Bazaar, working across print and digital platforms. Previously, she was GQ’s first fashion critic, and worked as deputy editor of GARAGE and as a writer at Vanity Fair. She has written for publications including Bookforum and Artforum, and is the creator of the invitation-only newsletter Opulent Tips.
