Guy Bourdin's Fashion Photography Exhibition Opens at Armani/Silos in Milan

A major exhibition of Guy Bourdin's fashion photography has opened at Armani/Silos in Milan, curated by Giorgio Armani in collaboration with the French Estate. The show, titled "Storyteller," marks the 70th anniversary of Bourdin's first photographic exhibition under the pseudonym Edwin Hallan in Paris. Bourdin, born in Paris in 1928, learned photography during military service in Dakar and later worked under Man Ray. His early exhibitions focused on paintings and drawings. The Milan exhibition features black-and-white and color photographs that emphasize narrative, often obscuring the advertised product. Bourdin's work references cinema, Edward Hopper, and Alfred Hitchcock. He shot for Vogue Paris, Charles Jourdan (for 15 years), Chanel, Issey Miyake, Emanuel Ungaro, Gianni Versace, Pentax, and Loewe. His saturated colors and compositions, sometimes showing only models' limbs, evoke surrealism. Bourdin died in Paris in 1991.