Renowned photographer Pamela Hanson has released a stunning new collection that celebrates the vibrant world of 1990s fashion photography. "Pamela Hanson: The 90s," published by Rizzoli, emerged organically from the photographer's archives as she discovered her most beloved images all happened to be from that transformative decade. "What is it about the Nineties which makes us so nostalgic?" Hanson wondered recently. "I had been looking at my archives with the view to doing a book, and the images I loved the most just happened to be from that decade. It was the time, photography-wise, before everything went digital—but also it was a moment of freedom and innocence."
The book showcases an extraordinary roster of supermodels who defined the era, including Christy Turlington, Veronica Webb, Yasmeen Ghauri, Naomi Campbell, Cordula Reyes, Nikki Taylor, Nadja Auermann, Claudia Schiffer, Chandra North, Kirsty Hume, Trish Goff, Kristen McMenamy, and Milla Jovovich, who graces the cover. Hanson's lens captured these iconic women "in the throes of living their best lives joyfully and un-self-consciously," creating images that crackle with authentic energy and spontaneous moments.
Unlike her contemporary Corinne Day, who famously captured the raw, awkward beauty of London's waif models like Kate Moss, Paris-based Hanson had a different approach. Her work celebrated the individual personalities of the women who posed for her, moving away from the rigid hauteur of 1980s power dressing. The book features memorable shots like Reyes rising out of water, McMenamy running down a street tossing her hat in the air, Taylor and Hume playfully shooting pool in cocktail dresses, Auermann enjoying dim sum, and perhaps the photographer's favorite image—Ghauri shielding herself with a newspaper during a humid Caribbean downpour.
"I just love life, and capturing life, and seeing it play out on the streets," Hanson explained. "I mean, I love women, and I love style, and I wanted to make that palpable." Her approach was so naturalistic that a makeup artist she frequently worked with once told another photographer that Hanson would shoot another café scene "whenever Pamela feels like a cup of coffee." Indeed, the book is filled with espressos, wine glasses, and notably, about twenty cigarettes—enough to give readers a sense of secondary inhalation from that era.
Hanson's unique perspective was shaped by her background as a London-born daughter of American parents who spent much of her life traveling around Europe before settling in Paris to work. The book's witty introduction, written by former model and current LA icon Lisa Love, recalls their friendship from Hanson's early career days. Love writes, "[Pamela] was my wing person—we carried each other through the pictures, the stories, and so many dangers. I had a questionable Polaroid collection, and when my boyfriend found them, she pretended they were hers. In Paris, I watched as she worked harder than anyone."
As one of the few women photographers working in Paris at the time, Hanson enjoyed a certain freedom that distinguished her work from established photographers like Sarah Moon and Deborah Turbeville, whose styles she found "more contrived." "I fell into fashion because all my friends were models, so I photographed them every day, getting dressed, hanging out," she recalled. This documentary approach became the foundation of her aesthetic, leading her longtime collaborator, stylist Brana Wolf, to observe: "Fashion was never your thing. Your thing was the girls, and their energy, and their lifestyle."
Hanson's success came from building genuine friendships with her subjects, spending time understanding their personalities rather than imposing a predetermined vision. "I never had a type to shoot," she said. "It was really dependent on their personality. I had to have a rapport to tell their story. I would spend a lot of time just hanging out with them, asking questions: What are you doing, where are you going, who are you seeing? Everyone was more open then."
The 1990s represented a unique moment in fashion photography, characterized by intimate creative communities and spontaneous collaboration. Hanson recalls spending time at the legendary Paris hangout Davé, a favorite of Helmut Newton's, alongside figures like Lisa Love, Helmut Lang, and John Galliano. It was "a small, intimate world where work morphed into life and then back again," she remembers. This was an era when photographers, stylists, and models would be "packed off with a suitcase of clothes, and asked to come back with great pictures."
"Pamela Hanson: The 90s" serves as both a celebration of that extraordinary decade in fashion and a testament to Hanson's ability to capture authentic moments of joy and spontaneity. The book offers readers another opportunity to marvel at "the decade that's gone, but so not forgotten," presenting a collection of terrific images that showcase why the 1990s continue to hold such powerful nostalgic appeal in contemporary culture.
