Linda, Amber, Irina, Gigi, Kaia, Sora, Alton. Name a mononymous model and it’s a sure bet they’ve been photographed by Steven Meisel. His portraits, after all, are one of the reasons they’ve achieved such nomenclature. Ask any of them what they learned from working with the venerated photographer and the same few words recur: movement, self-expression, intimacy, effortlessness, elegance. Meisel isn’t just the best, he’s known for bringing the most out of his subjects.
Now, in a table-turning moment, Meisel is behind a new collection at Zara, landing in stores and online this month. Steven Meisel New York represents a new chapter in the lensman’s long collaboration with the Spanish fashion juggernaut, which began with him shooting its seasonal campaigns and culminated last year with the exhibition “Steven Meisel 1993: A Year In Photographs” in A Coruña, a show made possible by Inditex and its chair Marta Ortega Pérez. “When you work with Steven you simply know that you are in the hands of a master,” said Ortega Pérez on the occasion of the exhibition. “He transforms the people who come before his lens into the most beautiful versions of themselves.”
Over his decades-long career, Meisel created an individual visual language that has helped define what is understood as a fashion image today. This collection, together with its accompanying lookbook, encompass that singularity, with help from his stalwart collaborators, of course. The photographer has created portraits of 26 people wearing the clothes alongside the stylist Karl Templer, makeup oracle Pat McGrath, and hair master Guido Palau. The cast features supers from then and now, and highlights some of Meisel’s most memorable co-conspirators including, naturally, Linda Evangelista, with whom he has just published a book.
For a fashion legend whose professional stature is in part based on his enigmatic persona, Meisel himself is somewhat of an unsung style icon. This collection rights that wrong, drawing on such Meiselisms as his trapper hat, bandanas, workwear boots, and parkas to produce an all-black rendition of functional Americana. “Everything about the collection is Steven,” Linda Evangelista told Vogue, “from the bandana to the jeans and boots. It’s classic, effortless, and chic— it’s Steven.” Her fellow model Amber Valletta chimed in with how personal the collection is for those lucky enough to know Meisel: “This collection felt like I was in Steven’s closet borrowing his clothes,” she said, “there is a sense of intimacy that I love in being able to dress like him.”
Another thing this collection reveals about Meisel’s own style is how he’s always been influenced by music. There’s loose gauge knits that look lifted from ’90s grunge, and lace-up leather trousers that channel ’60s rock stars (think Jim Morrison). Meisel aficionados will also recognize the photographer’s hand in the illustrations stamped across t-shirts. For the uninitiated: He started his career as an illustrator for clients like Halston and Women’s Wear Daily.
There’s something meta about Meisel capturing these iconographic faces all done up as versions of himself—see: Kaia Gerber in his oversized trapper hat; Scott Barnhill in his paisley bandana; Jackson Jarrel in his black kilt and boots; and Alton Mason in his relaxed blazer and leather pants. “Steven is always cool, always chic, and always wearing black,” said Gerber. “His look, like his art, is timeless.”
Steven Meisel New York will be available from September 18 on Zara.com and in selected stores, and at a New York City pop-up open from September 9 to September 13 at 33 Howard Street. Prices range from $27.90 to $439.