Fashion & Beauty

Guy Bourdin for Charles Jourdan

A giant of modern fashion photography, Bourdin lent his surrealist eye to the shoes and fashions of Charles Jourdan. Creating compositions full of movement, color, and sensuality, this pioneering collaboration between designer and photographer still exerts a profound influence on modern fashion photography.

The late 1960s saw some of the most dynamic periods in French fashion. And the union between Bourdin and Jourdan captured the spirit of the moment unlike any other creative partnership of the era. Jourdan, a polymath who occupied the office of both couturier and shoe designer, tapped Bourdin, a true surrealist among the fashion photographers of the age, and engaged in a creative dialogue through to Jourdan’s passing in 1976.

Celebrated here are over 150 images, many never before published, full of the modernity and fetishism that made Jourdan’s designs so sought after, and Bourdin’s mise-en-scènes so provocative. To draw attention to the sweep of a woman’s feet and the gentle swell of her calves, the shod feet and lower leg of a mannequin are disembodied and transported to a variety of contexts, the central figures in compositions that are at once erotic, humorous, and often unsettling.

Provocative, fabulist, dramatic, and full of intense color and saturation theirs was as complete a collaboration as has ever been achieved in the history of postwar fashion. This book presents that work in its entirety for the very first time and provides insight into a true meeting of the minds between designer and photographer.

About The Author

Patrick Remy is based in Paris and is the author and editor of numerous books on fashion and photography.

  • Publish Date: September 03, 2024
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Design - Fashion & Accessories
  • Publisher: Rizzoli
  • Trim Size: 8-1/4 x 11-5/8
  • Pages: 216
  • US Price: $75.00
  • CDN Price: $100.00
  • ISBN: 978-0-8478-3333-7

Reviews

"Here are over 150 images devoted to the provocative collaboration between photographer Guy Bourdin and shoe designer Charles Jourdan. Provocative, fabulist, dramatic, and full of intense color and saturation theirs was as complete a collaboration as has ever been achieved in the history of postwar fashion." — CURATED TEXAN

"The new book Guy Bourdin For Charles Jourdan, published by Rizzoli, captures this stellar collaboration with 150 color photographs that double as a good overview of Bourdin’s best work. All of Bourdin’s obsessions are there: the blood-soaked reds, glinting pops of sunlight, endless fields of verdant grass where models recline seemingly unaware of Bourdin’s voyeuristic lens, the luxurious but cold boudoirs where games of lesbian dominance and submission unfold, all with Charles Jourdan shoes, of course. The book is a shoe fetishist’s wet dream." — STYLE ZEITGEIST MAGAZINE

Author Bookshelf: Patrick Remy