Fashion Photographer Thierry Le Gouès Drops “90’s” Coffee Table Book

Thierry Le Gouès is doing a throwback to his fledgling days as a fashion photographer —and to a time when Kate Moss was still this young girl who was "going to be the next thing."

Really, "it was the golden age of fashion," he says about the collection of largely black-and-white images in his new coffee table book "90's."

From Carla Bruni to Naomi Campbell, grunge to glamour, Italy to India, it's all in the textured pages of this compilation, which is set for release in July. And coincidentally hitting when ‘90s fashion is having a moment, both the clothing (when it's present, at least) and images look as fresh as if they didn't happen 30 years ago.

"It was most of my prolific work or my beginning in the business," Le Gouès says, explaining the reasoning behind releasing the collection.

In these early days of his career, the Brittany-born photographer had just emerged from his days working as a stagaire (intern) at Studio Pin-Up, where Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel and Albert Watson were regulars.

"They all were shooting in this studio in Paris, it was the biggest studio, so I was in the mecca of fashion," Le Gouès says of his start. "All these top models, iconic girls, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell — I shot everybody at the time, so I had all those girls and I say, ‘OK, why not, let's do [the book].’ And I’m so happy I did it because I love the result."

"90's" opens with a preface from Bruni, who writes: "Thierry's eye on his models is very special: imbued with delicacy and empathy, the shots are simple and joyful; we laugh a lot. His talent is multiple — both sophisticated and primitive, and at the same time, timeless."

To the viewer, the images appear as though the capturer and the captured share a secret, one that lends the images their intimacy, their emotion.

"This is one of my main things, I really love the eye contact," Le Gouès says. "It's difficult for me to choose a picture when people are looking somewhere else…I love the complicity with the model. And when I shoot girls at the time, and still now, every time I want them to feel good and make them look great. They have to feel like they’re super beautiful. That's my main key. If the girl — or the guy, but I shoot mostly girls — if she feels like the light is good on her and like [you’ll] make her look amazing, you have probably 70 percent of your picture already. That's magic."

One of the first such images in the book is of Bruni. She's nude and looking at herself in the mirror, and it's one of Le Gouès’ favorites.

"When I shot this story, it was for Vogue Homme, it was a men's story basically and actually basically in the photoshoot, we don't see the man almost nowhere," he says laughing. "I shot Carla naked and I rent this little hotel in Pigalle [Paris] which is like an old-school French hotel, very ‘70s with the paper flowers on the wall, really cinematographic. I was shooting there all the time and I was like, ‘OK Carla, Carla let's go, let's do some picture like very sexy,’ and she said, ‘OK’ because we knew each other pretty well, we were friends, she trust me, she knew I was doing something not sleazy. And then we did those pictures like in a shower and everything and it was so much fun and she was for it. Actually, I love the result and 30 years after, those are my favorite images — and especially the one where she looks at herself in the mirror — is one of my favorite images of Carla."

Another is of Moss, simply on a black background, wearing a turtleneck sweater, her bare legs at once prominent and discreet.

"Kate was like probably 16. I think it was one of the first big shoots she was doing," Le Gouès says. "I did this trip in Ladakh, India, with her. So we went all from London, the stylist was like, ‘Oh, I have this great girl, you should get her.’ [It was] Alexandra White, she was a major stylist and she was at Harpers & Queen [now Harper's Bazaar] in England. She was like, ‘I have this great girl, she's going to be the next thing, her name is Kate Moss.’ I said, ‘OK, let me see some images,’ she sent me some…and I said, ‘OK, if you think this is great, let's take her.’"

Despite being in Ladakh — known for its striking landscapes — and sleeping in a yurt in the mountains, Le Gouès’ favorite photo of Moss happened with a simple black backdrop.

"It's nothing, she's just pure," he says. "She's just posing and there's nothing basically in this picture, she's just pure, simplicity, and it's one of my favorite images."

If it seems from his images there was a connection between Le Gouès and his models beyond just photographer and subject, it's because there was.

"We were always laughing. It's never [that] we’re serious. You have to be always in a good mood, laughing. Sometimes there's tension of course, but when you do the picture it's got to be a story, it's got to be a laugh. With me on my shoot, it's always good humor and something fun, I want my shoot to be something fun," he says.

It was the energy of the ‘90s and the energy among the creatives running in the fashion pack. "Carla Bruni, she's very much fun to be around, she has a lot of spirit, she has a lot of humor. We are also from the same generation so we have the same reference in music. So it was always when we go on trips together, we knew each other. It was kind of a crowd going together of friends, and when I met Kate it was the same. Kate I met in London before the shoot, and she invited me after with her friends in her apartment, with Mario Sorrenti, Camilla Nickerson, all these people… It was kind of a tribe of really cool people having fun."

Le Gouès’ images played a key role in defining the decade's hottest fashion looks — and helping further more inclusive ideas of beauty. Some of what he shot in the ‘90s also found its way into "Soul," Le Gouès’ first book published in 1998, which began as an exhibition at Festival de la Mode and ultimately saw him take up the mantle as one of the first leading fashion photographers to feature exclusively Black models. And though he coolly notes of his early images’ quality, as likely only his own eye would see, "technically it was very poor," he knows there was more to what he made in the ‘90s than that.

"I learned that the technique is not so important, it's more about the sensation and the simplicity and the emotion at the end," he says. "Because some of those pictures, that's what it is, it's a lot of emotion when you look at Carla Bruni, Kate Moss, some are really simple pictures and they still are timeless."

Asked what he wants the industry to take from his new book, Le Gouès says, "I don't really know exactly because I did it basically, I did it for me. But I think it's going to be witness of all those years that we lived, my generation of photographers — it was basically the golden years of fashion where the money was flowing, where we had the freedom, where we could have creativity. That's what people of my generation, which lived this period, they are going to understand."

"90's" will be released by PowerHouse Books in July but is available now for pre-order on its website, as well as at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.