Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The Beauty of Retrospect, February Model Edition: Happy Birthday, Nancy Donahue! (Part Three)

I couldn't resist adding three more pictures of Nancy Donahue from the early eighties. The first two, if I remember correctly, are from the June 1980 issue of the British edition of Vogue, just like the pictures on the previous post, but I don't remember where the third is originally from.

I know this much: All three of these pictures were taken by Denis Piel.


Nancy Donahue has worked with numerous photographers throughout her career, and they read like a who's who list of the most famous fashion photographers: Francesco Scavullo, Irving Penn, Steve Landis, Arthur Elgort, Patrice Casanova, Eric Boman, Stan Malinowski and Patrick Demarchelier.  But she's regularly associated with Denis Piel, and it's easy to see why.  Denis Piel knows how to get the best pose out of his models, and Nancy Donahue has always responded marvelously to Piel on a photo shoot, much like how a great rock band responds to a producer in the recording studio.  The photo above shows our heroine looking glamorous and worldly.  With a lesser model and a lesser photographer, such a pose would look like . . . a woman pushing against a table. 


Nancy Donahue describes her style as "innocence and cool sophistication."  In the photo above, Denis Piel captured both simultaneously.

He concentrated more on the innocence in the photo below, showing Ms. Donahue in a softer, more pensive mood.  


How romantic . . . perfect for today, St. Valentine's Day.

I could devote an entire month on this blog to Nancy Donahue's work with Denis Piel.  Because with a great model like she and a great photographer like he, how could you go wrong? 

3 comments:

PADIES said...

So great to hear appreciation. Nanc and i did create some interesting work . It was always collaborative. Always searching for that inner personality to shine. I always wanted to tell intimate stories not just show the fashion.

Unknown said...

Steven,
Thank you so much on this wonderful blog post. I am honored that you chose me!
Big hugs,
Nancy

Steve said...

Thank you both for the comments! More to come for the rest of the week, Nancy!:-)