Steven Meisel Shoots Nearly Identical Portfolio for W, Italian Vogue

[MissMagAddict]

source | wwd.com

September 6, 2011
Steven Meisel Shoots Nearly Identical Portfolio for W, Italian Vogue
MEISEL’S MIRROR IMAGES: The staff of W landed a long-awaited coup for its September issue: Photographer Steven Meisel shot a 22-page black-and-white portfolio for the magazine. W staffers were pleased to have Meisel in their magazine and the portfolio was a hit in their Sixth Avenue offices. Meisel took 10 models and shot them in “before” and “after” shots — what they look like all dolled up alongside a more natural look. It appeared to be the beginning of a glorious relationship between Meisel and the new team at W.

The good feelings didn’t last long. In the last week, W staffers discovered that Meisel shot a nearly identical concept for the August Italian Vogue. Meisel did not inform them of this.

In the Italian Vogue portfolio, there are black-and-white photos of model Raquel Zimmermann dressed naturally juxtaposed with photos of her all dolled up. In some cases, she is in nearly identical poses to some of the models in W. In fact, Meisel used Zimmermann in two of his photos for the W portfolio. To make matters worse, this wasn’t something that could be swept under the carpet: Meisel’s portfolio was Italian Vogue’s cover story. One source said that some W insiders believe Meisel may have financed the Italian Vogue photo on their dime.

There are differences between the shoots: They were styled by different people (Karl Templer for Italian Vogue and Edward Enninful for W); W showcases different models (Linda Evangelista, Carolyn Murphy, Karen Elson and Jessica Stam, among others), while Italian Vogue uses only Zimmermann.

Meisel’s agent did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Stefano Tonchi, W’s editor in chief, declined to comment.

The fallout will be worth watching. If it damages W’s relationship with Meisel, Tonchi will lose out on a big-name photographer he’s craved for the magazine. If Tonchi doesn’t act, it will demonstrate the lengths a fashion magazine editor will go to appease a photographer who holds considerable influence in the industry.

Vogue Italia August 2011
Giorno e Notte
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Styling: Karl Templer
Model: Raquel Zimmermann



vogue.it via gilsa0870

 

[MissMagAddict]

W September 2011
Transformers
Models: Linda Evangelista, Karen Elson, Guinevere van Seenus,
Jamie Bochert, Raquel Zimmermann, Jessica Stam, Candice Huffine,
Aymeline Valade, Carolyn Murphy & Sun Fei Fei
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Stylist: Edward Enninful






source | models wmagazine via tarsha

 

[MissMagAddict]

...

source | models wmagazine via tarsha

 

[Style Savvy]

I knew those photos of Raquel looked familiar! But Meisel did a great job of camouflaging them with the other photos.

 

[L.A.Woman85]

well this just proves that Meisel is running out of ideas.... kinda sad actually...

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

It is kinda sad.
I'm actually loving the W spread more.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

It's about time for Meisel to be called out for his Repetitious B/W Studio Shoots. They've all been similar but these two could be for the same shoot. I wouldn't doubt it if Raquel's Photos for both Magazines were shot in the same day.

 

[ALAUU]

So what? Every damn photographer can be accused of the same exact thing.

 

[vogue28]

^Exactly. I'm not at all bothered that the stories are identical.

 

[iluvjeisa]

I don't see a problem. Especially not for Raquel...she is shown to be as versatile as a whole cavalcade of models and celebrities. Kudos and congratulations to her

Plus, don't people do this with eds and campaigns all the time. This could have ended up as a Gap campaign (you know, some mammary glands excluded and whatnot).

 

[AD011620]

which one is Linda's natural shot? lol...

 

[Melancholybaby]

I don't really see how this deserved an enitre WWD article. I mean is it the first time a photographer recycles an idea? Raquel's editorial by I&V in this month's Vogue China is identical to Lara's ed also by I&V in January's W. And not to mention M&M who used the exact same concept for the new Tod's campaign with Anne Hathaway as the one they had used for the Louis Vuitton Spring 2008 campaign. I can't see what the big fuss is all about as this certainly isn't a new phenomenon and Meisel isn't the first one to do that.

 

[tentalicious]

In the last week, W staffers discovered that Meisel shot a nearly identical concept for the August Italian Vogue. Meisel did not inform them of this.

Where do people at W live? Vogue Italia August is on newsstand for over a month now and the inside content appeared a little before thanks to storemags.com.

 

[mackos]

Nice to know, I didn't notice that natural/sophisticated motif in Vogue Italia story until now. I just looked at them as a set of randomly put images, just like few other of their main editorials by Meisel.

 

[tarsha]

I immediately thought of VI August, when I've seen that W editorial.
Maybe they're uncomfortable at W because both stories were published almost same time and it was too easy for everyone to find the similarity. I don't like mostly any of the eds, some shots are ok.

 

[HeatherAnne]

I don't have a problem with it either. At least he is not stealing concepts from other photographers as has been done to him more than a handful of times.

 

[LUXXX]

He did something like that even longer ago for Italian Vogue where he juxtaposed altered images of models looking ugly with altered images where they had some kind of plastic surgery improvement.

 

[Melancholybaby]

^That was the 'Makeover Madness' ed from July 2005 and it was very different in my opinion. Here they're just showing models in scruffy casual clothes and then dressed as iconic women of the past. In the 2005 ed there were 'before' pictures were models looked raw with marks on their faces and messy hair and 'after' pictures that showed them dressed luxuriously and most importantly photoshopped to death.

 

[tigerrouge]

In the nineties, I remember times when he shot a long editorial for Italian Vogue, and then a few different images from the same (or a very similar) sitting turned up in US Vogue, and it often made me appreciate the theme more, seeing it in the context of a different issue, with a different content surrounding it.

 

[LUXXX]

Meisel's last big W feature was a real stroke of genius (the androgyny exploration), so it is sad to see something like this happen. He usually is good about being original, or at least stealing the best from the film and celebrity worlds.