"Versace – Veiled Dress, El Mirage"

Two-color offset lithography

artist's embossing stamp on recto, printdate and copyright imprinted on verso

Photographed at the El Mirage dry lakebed in California, Versace, Veiled Dress by Herb Ritts embodies the radiant, West Coast lifestyle and glamour that are emblematic of the artist’s signature style. With the model (Naomi Campbell) enveloped in a sheer veil, the contours of her body and subtle tones of the folding, flowing garment become graphic elements in this theatrical and elegant image.
(Christies)

"I started working with Herb Ritts in 1988 when I was 18. Herb always pushed you. He wanted to recreate you, to change you, to bring about another image of you. That's what it was all about for me."
Naomi Campbell¹

This work is one of Herb Ritts’s iconic pieces and exemplifies the visual language of fashion photography in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period in which the image increasingly became an autonomous work of art. Ritts transforms the fashion editorial into an iconic visual form – shifting from advertising aesthetics to sculptural art photography. Original prints regularly fetch prices exceeding $100,000 at art auctions held by renowned auction houses. This image is an official reproduction from the Herb Ritts Foundation, produced as an exceptional two-color offset lithograph that allows for large print runs.
(Christoph Fuchs)

Notes

1
The Guardian, March 30, 2012