A very loving vision of fashion.

Fashion's closest creative relative is photography, and few photographers have been more beloved in the fashion world than Peter Lindbergh, the subject of a major exhibition currently at Galerie Dior in Paris.

Titled 'Galerie Dior x Peter Lindbergh', it is a unique exhibition both for its conception and for the notable quality of the photography on display. Enticingly, Lindbergh's photographs are presented with the actual haute couture and luxury ready-to-wear creations seen in his iconic images shot for fashion magazines, advertising campaigns and special projects.

The late great Lindbergh's connection to the house dates back to the 1980s, when he began photographing Dior when Marc Bohan was its designer. Later, working with Dior on fashion designed by Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Although best known for his black and white photographs, Lindbergh excelled in photographing Galliano's colorful theatricality. Like the brilliant photo of a super seductive Shalom Harlow imitating a Chinese femme fatale in a gorgeous bias-cut dress called Alcée de Galliano from Dior couture 1997, where the six-foot-high photo is placed behind the actual dress. Or stunning mermaid dresses by Galliano with corsets by jeweler Goossens, worn in a Vogue Italia photo shoot for models Kusudi and Kiku. Although clinging to the Eiffel Tower, a very young Marion Cotillard looks almost angelic in a Galliano Dior bar jacket and pleated skirt.

Ferré, Bohan's successor, is recognized in a moving black and white photograph by Carolyn Murphy. Dressed in a dazzling floral-print organza ballgown made for a glamorous opening night of the season at La Scala or the Metropolitan Opera, it is a sensitive image of a great beauty sitting pensively.

Furthermore, Lindbergh had great variety: from his expressionist vision of a fantastic strapless corset dress by Raf Simons made with silk, cotton and lambskin floral embroidery, photographed on the rugged cliff beach in the Norman town of Ault; to the subtlety of a pre-Raphaelite print by Rianne van Rompaey with a chiffon Greek goddess look by Chiuri.

Ultimately, the key to good photography, especially portrait or fashion photography, is the connection the photographer makes with the subject. In that sense, Lindbergh has few rivals. It is felt that all these beautiful models felt completely comfortable in their company, without fear of being exploited. Candid shots even show them looking together with Peter through the viewfinder lenses or enjoying a good laugh. Her beauty is always respected, never belittled. In an era of MeToo and a feminist designer at Dior, all of Peter Lindbergh's work seems like an ideal expression in fashion photography.

Born in 1944 at the end of World War II in German-occupied Poland, Lindbergh worked as a window dresser before studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. Throughout his career, the vast beaches of northern Germany, the detritus of war, and the region's industrial cities influenced his work. He honed his style working for Hamburg's big news magazine Der Stern in the '70s before becoming a perennial cover creator for both Vogue and Harper's Bazaar in the '80s, a reign he continued until his unjustly untimely death. at the age of 74 in 2019. Until his passing, he continued to climb artistically.

So much so that, in 2018, this house gave Peter Lindbergh carte blanche to photograph 80 iconic Dior looks with his beloved Nikon on the raw, gritty streets of New York and around Time Square. Perfection meets imperfection and an opportunity for Lindbergh to photograph fashion dating back to Yves Saint Laurent and even Monsieur Dior: two of her little black dresses seen among the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

“The responsibility of today's photographers is to liberate women from the terror of youth and perfection,” commented Lindbergh, in a quote on an explanatory panel, which in a sense sums up much of what Maria Grazia Chiuri has strived for during his tenure at Dior.

In a word, an unmissable exhibition, where the marriage between fashion and photography is consummated by a truly masterful photographer.