A Fashion Photography Great

Style

The Epoch Times

Fenruary 21 – 27, 2008

B7

Interview With, Nigel Barker:

A Fashion Photography Great By LIDIA LOUK

America, people all over the world have this same idea, “Hey, look at that girl—she is like me! She is not perfect!” You know, there are small flaws here and there, but with the makeover, a bit of spit and polish, and some runway training from Jay Alexander, and good art direction from Jay Manual, and good photo training from myself, and all the rest of it, I think, we got an exciting show that people like to watch.

Epoch Times New York Staff

NEW YORK—Nigel Barker is a celebrity fashion photographer and judge on “America’s Next Top Model.” He gained a foothold in the fashion industry as a model after being discovered on a televised British program, “The Clothes Show.” After a successful career of modeling for Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Gaultier, Kenzo, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren, he moved on to fashion photography. We recently had a chance to sit down and talk to him about his career in the fashion world and the continued success of “America’s Next Top Model.”

ET: How do you spot a good model? Do you have any fixed criteria? NB: Not really. Originally, I might have had them, especially when I was a model myself. I may have thought. “You have to be 5’11” or 5’10”. You’ve got to be skinny. The world is changing and has changed, and the world is not made of 5’10” skinny girls. The industry is changing, and so a lot of different shapes and sizes and colors are all important, and so they should be part of the fashion industry. When Tyra Banks started modeling, she was one of the few black girls who were out there, and found it difficult. Now she has paved the way for many more. So things change, and we are hopefully a part of that change. We try not to make the criteria too fierce, but you have to have a winning personality, and you’ve got to be able to walk, and the ability to improve, to realize that you don’t know it all is important. Hey, we all need to grow, and that’s ultimately what the show is about.

The Epoch Times (ET): We are so impressed with the success of “America’s Next Top Model.” What is the secret? Nigel Barker (NB): You know, it’s a great recipe. The bottom line is that it’s a very simple idea. It was really what the American dream is built on, it’s a Cinderella story, it’s the rags-to-riches. It was that Tyra Banks believes—and she truly believes—that everybody has beauty in them, and that all over America, girls should have the opportunity to become models. And so she said, “Let’s do a model search that involves real people that we can transform and give them the opportunity to become a model.” And I think people identify with that. It’s not just people in

ET: Let’s talk about your own

modeling career. I remember you started as a contestant. NB: I have my mother to blame. I was actually in high school studying all the sciences. My idea was to become a doctor. And then my mother, who was a model herself—she was a former Miss Sri Lanka, entered me into a competition, which was a televised show in England. One thing led to another, it sparked some interest in me, I thought, “Wow, becoming a doctor is important, and I’d like to do it, but let me see a bit of the world first.” Off I went to Milan for a year, then one year led to two years, and I was very lucky! I worked for some incredible designers, I traveled the world. I learned a lot about photography, which is my love and what I am doing now. I’ve done a full circle: I was a contestant on one of the modeling shows, and now I am a judge on a modeling show. ET: What were the most challenging things about modeling for you? NB: You now, the hard thing about modeling is the fact that you have to be sort of judgmental about yourself. It’s difficult for children and for young people when they get involved with modeling, and it’s something very serious to think about. You will be constantly getting criticism about the way you look, about the way you stand, the way you behave, and who likes criticism? It’s a very tough business, especially when you’re young, and your skin isn’t as thick as it is when you get older, you know. I think

that’s a very tough part. But the rewards, if you are lucky, and you are successful—which by the way, is very few and far between—are massive: the ability to travel around the world, the ability to meet interesting and extraordinary people, and to mix with the creative crowd. That’s a lot of fun! ET: Speaking of extraordinary, you have worked for some of the most famous designers, such as Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Gaultier, Kenzo, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren. Which were the ones who stood out for you? NB: All of them stood out in different ways. When you are talking about people of that sort of height, and big names, they all had their little thing, and the photographers that I got to work with, they all had their special thing that they do: whether it was the lighting, the way they design, they handle the people around them, the locations they took us on. I tried to approach everything with a positive mindset and what I could learn, to try and be a sponge. I think it’s important no matter what you do, and in any environment to see what you can learn. It’s easy to walk in somewhere and dismiss things, “Oh, I’ve done this before, I’ve been here before, it’s another interview, it’s another traveling job, it’s another trip. There is always something subtle to be learned and picked up, and it could be not from the most intelligent person in the room but from someone who works for him.

COMING FULL CIRCLE: Fashion photographer Nigel Barker is becoming a celebrity while leading a full life on a road traveled by fashion legends. Studio NB

ET: As a photographer, now you have your own studio in Manhattan, and you take photos of various celebrities. Who are the most memorable ones who you’ve worked with?

bands.

NB: Every day is different in my life and in what we do, and we’re constantly working with different celebrities from different TV shows, and different actors, and not just celebrities who are actors, but also sports stars, and musicians, and everyone offers something different. I try not to get too specific, because there are a lot of surprises in life, so you have to go with an open mind. One of my new pet, favorite things to do is shooting rock ‘n’ roll

NB: I describe myself as a fashion photographer/portrait photographer, but I have a fashion bend even in my portraiture. And since I am involved with “America’s Next Top Model,” I get invited to some of the best [fashion] shows. And it’s great, because you get to see what the designers are thinking, and you get to see what kind of models they are looking for, and it’s a fun week. That’s how I keep my finger on the pulse of this industry.

ET: You were also at the recent New York Fashion Week, so fashion is still very much in the picture then?

Pamela Anderson Westwood Mixes Politics Campaigns for Seals in Paris and Rock at London Show PARIS (Reuters)—Former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson followed in the footsteps of French actress Brigitte Bardot last Thursday by campaigning in Paris for the protection of baby seals. Anderson said she would deliver a letter from Bardot to the Canadian ambassador to France urging him to stop seal hunting around the Arctic. “It sickens me not just as a Canadian but as a human being,” the 40-year-old actress told a room crammed with photographers shouting for her attention at Bardot’s animal rights foundation. Anderson also called on fashion designers and consumers to boycott pelts and seal products, which Canada defends as a traditional source of trade that helps balance the ecosystem. “The hunt was dead for 20 years, and has been revived not to honor local customs or conserve cod stocks but because new markets for fur have opened up in Russia and China,” she said.

HUMANE PLIGHT: “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson poses next to Brigitte Bardot Foundation representative Christophe Marie, and a television depicting the slaughter of seals, on Feb.14 in Paris. Anderson is working with the foundation to support its fight against baby seal hunting. She revealed an online petition by the group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), targeting the Canadian government. BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

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Bardot, 73, wished her luck via speakerphone from her home in the southern resort city of St. Tropez. “You are my Valentine, I kiss you,” Bardot said.

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Anderson played a short video that showed hunters yelling before clubbing seals and dragging bloodied bodies across the ice while a woman sobbed on the soundtrack.

LONDON (Reuters)—A potent cocktail of politics and rock ‘n’ roll received loud applause at Vivienne Westwood’s first London show in nine years last Thursday. No stranger to controversy, the doyenne of British fashion sent the opening model strutting down the runway in Guantanamo-orange underpants emblazoned with the slogan “Fair Trial My Arse.” While the freebie bags at most fashion shows over flow with makeup and sweets, Westwood’s offered petitions and charitable donation forms. “We need a whole change in ethic, otherwise we really are heading for disaster,” said the iconic designer, who often peppers her shows with political messages. Westwood told Reuters television that in order to focus on her cultural manifesto, she had handed over the designing reigns of her Red Label collection to a trusted adviser. Westwood, who first came to public prominence in the 1970s with her bondage-inspired and safety-pin-laden creations for the Sex Pistols, said her autumn-winter Red Label collection owed much to the punk era. Microskirts and minidresses were worn with knee-high leather boots, while animal spiral cuts gave the clothes a wild look. “The look is rock ‘n’ roll and although inspired by the ´70s is definitely about now. It’s about modern girls going out and painting the town red,” read the notes accompanying the show. While Westwood will continue to show her first line, the Gold Label, in Paris, she told reporters last Thursday she would like to continue to show Red Label in London. “Vivienne Westwood is my hero ... She’s amazing and she looks so amazing,” 25-year-old designer Krystof Strozyna, who showed for the first time at London Fashion Week, said. Another British designer to return was Graeme Black, after a 15-year sojourn in Italy and stints at both Giorgio Armani and Ferragamo. The comeback of these celebrated designers increased the heat about London Fashion Week, which enjoyed a resurgence thanks to upcoming designers Gareth Pugh, Marios Schwab, and Christopher Kane—all hotly tipped by fashion editors.

Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

FRAZZLES AND FANTASIES: Models display controversial creations bordering on the unreal, by Vivienne Westwood (top), Luella Bartley (bottom right) and Krystof Strozyna (bottom left) at London Fashion Week, on Feb. 14.

Rosie Greenway/Getty Images

Rosie Greenway/Getty Images