Richard Avedon

When asked to name his idols, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld listed six: "Personally, my parents and my sister. Professionally, Tom Sachs, John Currin, and Richard Avedon for his photography." Avedon was an American photographer about whom The New York Times exalts, "His fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty, and culture for the last half-century."

He began his career snapping ID photos for the Merchant Marines but somehow managed to capture the attention of Alexey Brodovitch, art director for Harper's Bazaar at that time. Avedon soon established his own studio and began selling photos to magazines such as Life. From the beginning, he refused to conform to the industry standard for fashion photography, instead catching his models in action and full of emotion.

In 1966, Avedon started shooting for Vogue and was responsible for most of the covers from 1973 until late 1988. He became known for his large-format portraits, typically in a minimalist style with the subject posed against a stark white backdrop looking directly into the lens.

None other than the amazing Audrey Hepburn inspired Avedon as his muse during the 1950s and 1960s; as he says, "I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there. I can only record. I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait."

Avedon himself inspired the 1957 musical Funny Face, which stars Fred Astaire as the fashion photographer "Dick Avery." Clearly he provided many of the images used in the film as well including the most famous, an overexposed closeup of Hepburn in which we recognize the actress from just the details of her eyes, nose, and mouth. Note that Vladimir is not the only member of the Roitfeld family with fantastic taste in photographers, sister Julia is a fan as well with copies of Avedon's books Portraits and Woman in the Mirror in her library.

Richard Avedon photograph © 2008 The Richard Avedon Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face photograph by Richard Avedon © 2008 Phantom Sound & Vision. All Rights Reserved.

Salim Langatta

"The Works of Three Photographers" invitationThe first US show that Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld presented was "The Works of Three Photographers" featuring his three friends PC Valmorbida, David Mushegain, and Salim Langatta. The event took place in February at Collective Hardware on the Lower East Side and was sponsored by Louis Vuitton. When asked about his relationship with Langatta and his work, Vladimir replied, "I have known Salim for almost seven years now. When I first moved to New York in 2002, I didn’t know anyone to hang out with in the city. Basically, someone that I knew thought that it would be great for me to meet Salim. He was living in New York for many years already and was a bit older. So we met and just became really good friends straight away. He is my oldest friend in New York. After my first year here, I went to study in Los Angeles at USC. Salim knew David [Mushegain], who was living in LA, and introduced me to him. Salim is the kind of photographer who spends a million hours in the lab. His sense of color is incredible. He shoots a lot when he travels, and I also feel like he’s got an amazing ability to tell a story in one shot."

Image of "The Works of Three Photographers" Invitation courtesy of The New York Times Company
Salim Langatta photograph courtesy of Interview Magazine

David Mushegain

© 2009 David MushegainIn February as part of New York Fashion Week, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld curated "The Works of Three Photographers," an exhibit of the work of three of his friends: PC Valmorbida, David Mushegain, and Salim Langatta. The exhibit, sponsored by Louis Vuitton, was on display at the gallery Collective Hardware on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

David Mushegain was born in Pasadena, California in 1975. He loves surfing, traveling, and hanging out with family and friends. He has worked for Vogue Paris, Vogue Hommes, Vogue UK, i-D, Muse, and has a column in Vogue Nippon for which he visits models at home and photographs them hanging out. When Vladimir went to study at USC in Los Angeles his friend Salim knew David who was also living in LA and he introduced the two friends.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Salim Langatta, PC Valmorbida, David MushegainWith regard to the exhibit and particularly David, Vladimir said, "I enjoy working with my friends and people of my generation and when I had the idea a few months ago to put on a photography show in New York, these guys just came naturally to me. I’ve been seeing them for many years, they have all a passion in common which is photography, and I really always loved their work. I like that they’re so different. You know, this show, mainly I’m just giving these guys an opportunity to show in New York. My only requirement was no fashion photography. I wanted the show to be more personal than that—moments out of each of their own lives. David is showing a lot of portraits and what I love about his pictures is the way he can really document a person. That’s such a talent. If you know anyone he’s shot, you see his picture and you recognize a true image."

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Salim Langatta, PC Valimorbida, and David Mushegain photograph courtesy of fashionologie.com

Raphael Mazzucco

When asked about his favorite book, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld chose Raphael Mazzucco Collected Art. This constitutes an interesting choice for several reasons: the book marks the first published work of the photographer and painter, the print run was limited to 1,000 copies, and the foreword is written by Carine Roitfeld (also known as his mom). Named "one of the top 50 photographers in the world to watch" by American Photo, Mazzucco is known primarily for his fashion photography for Victoria's Secret and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. He is a native of Vancouver, Canada.

Raphael Mazzucco Collected Art cover image courtesy of Amazon.com

PC Valmorbida

In February, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld curated an exhibit titled "The Works of Three Photographers" featuring the works of three of his artistic friends. The exhibit—which ran for a mere four days— was sponsored by Louis Vuitton at the gallery Collective Hardware on Manhattan's Lower East Side and included the photographers PC Valmorbida, David Mushegain, and Salim Langatta. It was the first official show for each of these three artists. The hot guest list for the opening included of course Carine Roitfeld, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Gisele Bündchen, Natalie Vodianova, Lara Stone, Alexander Wang, Erin Wasson, Sarah Lerfel (Colette), Lily Donaldson, Theodora and Alexandra Richards, Devon Aoki, and Stavros Niarchos.

Regarding his friend PC Valmorbida and the exhibit, Vladimir remarked, "PC is younger, and he is still at the point where he is experimenting, but his eye for form is quite impressive. You really see that in his architectural images. I love all of their work, and I trust them as artists and as friends, so I’ve given them a lot of leeway to choose what they show." PC hails from Australia and was formerly linked romantically with Theodora Richards. He also collaborated with Vladimir on last year's exhibit of the work of Marco Perego at Nikki Diana Marquardt Gallery on Place des Vosges.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and PC Valmorbida photograph courtesy of fashionspot.com
PC Valmorbida and Theodora Richards photograph courtesy of zimbio.com