Fashion photographer Roxanne Lowitt dies – WWD

Fashion photographer Roxanne Lowitt, behind-the-scenes photography and hours after her images captured the nerve and arch of the fashion industry, has passed away.

Her daughter Vanessa deferred comment Wednesday to Jesse Frohman, who said Lovitt, 81, died Tuesday. The cause of death was not released at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY. A memorial is being considered for a future date.

With her all-black wardrobe, black haired bob and diminutive stature, Lowitt seamlessly blends into wherever she shoots, so her subjects are instantly at ease. As low-key as Lovitt was, she fully understood that glamor can be a currency.

“She created a genre. She created a back photo. She was always an invited guest to all these parties. She was not an outsider. “She was able to do it better than anyone else with her eyes,” says her longtime friend Brian Cashman, MD, an insider, and she was able to capture these very intimate moments. 10 photographers would go after the shoot, but she was always the one who captured that moment best.

“It’s so important to always look fabulous,” she once explained to WWD. Lowitt is known to regularly shoot Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Shalom Harlowe, Helena Christiansen and other high-profile models who helped define fashion in the ’90s. Not only did Lowitt zero in on the behind-the-scenes hustle, but she was also in on the joke. The image of Evangelista covering her eyes, Campbell covering her ears and Turlington covering her mouth reflected the hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil mantra as well as Lovitt’s lifestyle. Such double-edged humor was evident in the series “VIP’s (Very Important Portraits)”.

In the year Her 1990 “Moments” chronicled nights at Studio 54 and Le Palace in the 70s and early 80s. “People thought they would live forever. It was an incredible mix – famous people mixed with club people. Everyone was a star. It didn’t matter who you were — it mattered what you looked like,” she told WWD in 1990.

Sure, “there was always someone who got up to the table and did something,” in her own words, but the onset of the AIDS epidemic changed that dynamic and reshaped the artistic landscape. “These moments changed all that had passed through them. Many seniors have died as a result of the AIDS crisis. The show isn’t over yet. There were young people like Keith Haring. And third-class people take their place,” she told WWD in 1990.

“Everything was more intense,” Lowitt says of that time. Wealth was not as important as beauty. Everyone had something online but kept hidden.

“I was a young designer, it was just the beginning,” fashion designer Joanna Mastroianni recalled Wednesday, the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Lowitt in February 1990. She came to my studio to take a photo of me with my newborn for Vogue. I knew she was a star,” Mastroianni said. This was my first time being photographed by a celebrity photographer. She was very soft spoken and made me feel very comfortable. ”

“Roxanne was always ready to play,” says the designer, recalling the good times the couple shared. I remember marking an invitation to a party with her after a late dinner. There were very interesting characters. They strike a pose as soon as they see Roxanne. She was always a photographer first. She went inside very quietly and continued taking pictures.

In addition to shooting for Vogue for nearly 20 years since the early 80s, Lowitt has also worked for Vanity Fair, Italian Vogue and other glossy magazines. Lowitt’s portfolio includes photos of leading artists such as Warhol, Haring, Schnabel, Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Eric Fischl and Kenny Scharf. “She wanted to capture her time and the amazing people of that time in fashion and culture. She wasn’t a Hollywood photographer, but she was a fashion world photographer who captured the culture and art scene. Anyone who was important in her time, she documented,” Frohman said.

Her family is managing the Lovitt archives while they decide what to do with them. However, an exhibition of her photographs is expected to bow in September 2023 at the Museum Cascais in Portugal.

Lowitt studied textile design and hand screen printing at the Fashion Institute of Technology before diving into photography. WWD reported on Lowitt’s textile designs in the late 1970s, working as a chief designer in textile design. Around that time, New York City-bred Lowe was given the Instamatic camera. Painting was another pursuit, but Lowitt found a more satisfying vehicle and instant gratification in photography.

Lowitt began shooting some of her textile designs on the runways, and “the big photographers elbowed her out and the models took her backstage.” [as their hairdresser]” Cashman said on a joint call with Frohman on Wednesday.

“She didn’t want to do runway pictures. She [thought] ‘You’re getting that. I want something special.’ said Frohman, the photographer who composed four of Lowitt’s books.

Karl Lagerfeld described Levitt as ‘the invisible, witness to the marriage of vanity and fame…’ As she called him by his first name, but everyone called him Monsieur St. Laurent, his comfort level with her was obvious. Lowitt also photographed the famously camera-shy designer – as well as his collections – at the time. A shared comfort level is shown in a photo of Lovitt holding and kissing Saint Laurent’s architectural model of the Empire State Building. Another shows the flamboyant designer with his arms locked around Lagerfeld – back when the two men were still friendly.

Referring to her long run with Saint Laurent, Lowitt told WWD in 2014, “He had an aura that no one could beat. Ever since I first met him, I admired him so much that I wanted to do something with him. He did everything first and changed the way women dress.

Hundreds of images of the designer and her collections from 1978 to their last collection in 2002 are featured in her book Yves Saint Laurent. A teenage Kate Moss recreates a haute couture version of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” among the prized shots. Jerry Hall, Pat Cleveland, Betty Catroux, Catherine Deneuve and Lucie de la Faluz were among the many other fashion insiders Lovitt photographed after hours. In addition to her book “Yves Saint Laurent,” Lowitt has published “Backstage Dior,” “Moments” and “People.”

After seeing her photos in the late 70s, Soho News founder Annie Flanders told Lowitt that if she got a professional camera and shot the shows in Paris, Flanders would run the images in Soho News.

“On the way, I learned how to put film on a plane in a real camera. The next thing I knew, I was on the Eiffel Tower shooting with Yves Saint Laurent and Andy Warhol,” Lowitt said in an interview with The Genealogy of Style. “From there, it was all downhill.” Because how could it be better?”

In December 1978, Halston threw a fantasy circus birthday for Steve Rubell that included giant stuffed animals, live ponies, toy soldiers and clowns, and a 75-piece marching band, while Lowitt shot guests such as Roy Cohn, Marisa Berenson. , Barbara Walters, Truman Capote, Doris Duke and Cheryl Tiegs for WWD with Dustin Pittman.

People’s Revolution founder Kelly Cutrone on Tuesday recalled Lowitt’s “amazing work” and how she admired the photographer for her talent, all-black outfits and friendship, but also as a single mother navigating the fashion industry. In addition to hiring Lovitt for advertising projects and backroom work for Jeremy Scott and other designers, Cutrone, Lovitt and the late photographer Mary Ellen Marks met for lunch at Lucky Strike on Fridays. “Of course they’re not raised enough by the women who run them. [fashion] Publications. They have never hired so many women to shoot. It was weird for both of them that they weren’t more fashion-conscious,” Cutrone said of Lowitt and Marc.

Describing why Lowitt became her best friend, Cutrone said, “She had a lot of qualities that I look for in a woman. She is wearing all black. She did her own thing. She called her shots, but she was amazing at what she did. And she was a wonderful mother to Vanessa,” Cutrone said. “Also, she knows what is right and what is wrong. She never stepped out of line. I actually saw her because she was so beautiful and she was traveling around the world. ”

In addition to her son, Lowitt is survived by her partner, John Granito, and two brothers, Daniel and Neil. Another brother, Bennett, preceded her in death.