100 Most Influential People in Fashion

Fashion Influential #50: Annie Leibovitz

By Alicia on

An Annie Leibovitz-shot advertisement for Disneyland featuring Scarlett Johansson.

FACT BOX TITLE Born:
October 2, 1949, Waterbury, CT
Fan of:
late partner Susan Sontag, Diane Arbus, Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keefe
Featured in:
Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Vogue
Most Famous Subjects:
Keith Richards, John Lennon, Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie, Miley Cyrus, Queen Elizabeth
Beginnings.
Annie Leibovitz was the third of six children in an Air Force family. She started taking pictures when her family was stationed in the Phillipines during the Vietnam War, and went on to develop her skills at a kibbutz in Israel. When she returned to the US in 1970, she worked for the burgeoning Rolling Stone, becoming their head photographer three years later.

Career Highs.
At Rolling Stone, Leibovitz took many of the intimate portraits that have come to define her career. Her most iconic photograph was shot on December 8, 1980, the last day of John Lennon's life. Leibovitz had Lennon take off his clothes and curl up next to a fully-clothed Yoko, creating a shot that Lennon said "captured [his and Yoko's] relationship exactly." Five hours later, he was shot and killed.
If I didn't have my camera to remind me constantly "I am here to do this" then I would eventually have slipped away, I think. I would eventually have forgotten my reason to exist.
- Annie Leibovitz

Leibovitz has said her camera enables her to do things she wouldn't otherwise.
photo via fototapeta
Career Lows.
Leibovitz left Rolling Stone for Vanity Fair in 1983, where she continued to produce provocative work - some of it arguably a bit too provocative for the subject matter. In April 2008, Leibovitz was criticized for a portrait of then-15 year-old Miley Cyrus that gave the appearance of toplessness (Cyrus was actually wrapped in a bedsheet). Cyrus apologized for the "embarrassing" pictures, while Leibovitz stated, "I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted."

Leibovitz says she urged Yoko to stay clothed for this photograph, which was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Legacy.
Leibovitz is not a fashion photographer, but her thought-provoking work has definitely influenced the fashion world. She is, after all, the woman who captured a fully pregnant, nude Demi Moore for the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991, sparking both intense controversy and a string of imitations. Her notoriously close collaborations with her subjects, from John and Yoko to Katie, Tom, and Suri, have yielded photographs that force their viewers into powerful fascination.

- Alicia