Slim Aarons: Women

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Herein lies what Waldron described as the difference between fashion and style – between the transient and the timeless. Indeed, Aarons appeared unconcerned about his subjects’ wardrobes or the trends of the day. I have seen many of these photos over the years in various publications or references, but to have them all gathered in one location was spectacular! Working for publications like Town & Country, Harper’s Bazaar and Life magazine, the late photographer spent five decades taking unapologetically glamorous pictures of aristocrats and socialites. Whether lounging in Italian villas, boating off the coast of Monaco or foxhunting in the English countryside, his globetrotting subjects epitomized high society – and old money.

Slim Aarons, the photographer who captured high society at Slim Aarons, the photographer who captured high society at

Painter and sculptor Wendy Vanderbilt Lehman, grandniece of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum, Palm Beach, 1964. Slim would stop by whenever he was in Palm Beach, Wendy remembers: ‘He came over one day to see my parents, and asked if he could photograph me. They got me all dressed up and I was so embarrassed. I was around 15 and at that awkward stage. Mummy was a great beauty and I was always scowling. He said to my mother, ‘Oh, Mollie, in a few years she’s going to be such a beauty.’ Those were the days when we women were only as lovable as we were pretty.’ Photograph: Slim Aarons/Getty. Caption: Laura Hawk Hawk writes in her introduction, “Slim’s visual narratives give us an intime glimpse into the world of the upper classes and their rituals in the pursuit of leisure. That his half century of work continues to captivate successive generations of admirers—and that this is the fifth book published of his photography—reveals not only a yearning for an irretrievable time gone by but also a universal fascination with the seeming forbidden worlds of wealth and privilege.” Aarons may have spent half a century surrounded by affluence, but his fixation on glamour may have been rooted in experiences of poverty and war. Fashion photography is about creating a story and a typology and acting it out … but Slim didn’t want to do that,” Waldron said. “He was interested in the real person – not only what they were wearing, but what they were driving, where they’d go to dinner afterward. It’s about all the different parts that make personal style. That’s what he really connected with.” What a fun coffee table style book! The content is interesting, but at times pulls away from the beautiful photos, so I found myself skimming the writing and studying the photos instead.

The photo agency Getty Images acquired Aarons’ entire archive in 1997, several years after his retirement. Waldron, who also works as a Getty curator, said that only 6,000 of the approximately 750,000 images have been digitized so far. These are the exceptions, however; throughout, Aarons’s portraits attest wholeheartedly to his intention to make the good life look even better, while also telling us as much about the person behind the camera as the people in front. “In society circles, he was very well known and accepted,” says Hawk, “It was understood that he would never let an unflattering photograph go out there. If he had, it would have affected how he would have been received, so he guarded the outtakes with his life.” Had he not, his photographs might have been a great deal more intriguing – and revealing.

The Slim Aarons Prints Collection - Galerie Prints - Premium The Slim Aarons Prints Collection - Galerie Prints - Premium

The championship swimmer and movie star Esther Williams poolside in Florida, circa 1955. Williams was the darling of both the aquatic and the film worlds. Unable to compete in the 1940 Olympic Games because of the war, she joined Billy Rose’s Aquacade in San Francisco, where she swam with Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller—a five-time Olympic gold medallist himself – and caught the attention of MGM scouts. At the pinnacle of her movie career, from 1945 to 1949, the actress dubbed ‘the Million Dollar Mermaid’ had at least one film in the top 20 box office hits each year. Photograph: Slim Aarons/Getty. Caption: Laura Hawk I've always loved the 60's and 70's. This book reminded me of why I loved that time period. The decadence of the clothing, jewelry and surroundings seems unparalleled to this day.Still using his birth name George Allen Aarons, rather than his later moniker Slim, he escaped poverty by joining the army as a photographer in his early 20s. Serving during World War II, he honed his craft not at polo matches or pool parties, but in military maneuvers including the Allies’ ill-fated assaults against Italy in the Battle of Monte Cassino. The photographer later “made light” of his experiences, but they stayed with him, Waldron said. Laure de La Haye‐Jousselin at the gates to her château in Normandy, 1957. Slim waited four days in the village of Saint‐Aubind’Écrosville to get this shot. Once the scene was set, he not only managed to get the subject to engage with the camera, but got her horse and two dogs to cooperate as well. As Slim’s longtime friend and editor Frank Zachary observed, ‘Slim managed to get the horse to raise his hoof. A real, honest‐to‐God 17th‐century portrait.’ Photograph: Slim Aarons/Getty. Caption: Laura Hawk