Marisa Berenson: A Life in Pictures [Hardcover]

Marisa Berenson (Author), Steven Meisel (Editor), Jason Duzansky (Editor), Lina Bey (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011

A captivating selection of images by the world’s leading photographers celebrating one of the most recognized faces in fashion and film.  Dubbed an “It Girl” by Yves Saint Laurent in the early 1970s, Marisa Berenson is the original modern muse-inspiring fashion designers, photographers, stylists, and fashion editors for over thirty years. Born of noble lineage-and the granddaughter of the famed fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli-Berenson’s meteoric rise began formally at age sixteen, leading to numerous covers and editorials in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and countless other high-end fashion and society magazines. Her timeless beauty and chameleonlike talent for transformation soon led to her entry into film, where she landed leading roles in the period films Cabaret, Death in Venice, and Stanley Kubrick’s lavish production of Barry Lyndon.
This captivating collection of fashion editorials, magazine covers, film stills, and candid photos were captured by the leading photographers and filmmakers of the day, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Hiro, Helmut Newton, Henry Clarke, Norman Parkinson, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Steven Meisel, among many others. This lavish yet intimate volume details a visual biography of Berenson, and demonstrates the lasting resilience that continues to make her an enthralling and legendary visage.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Her autobiography came out in 2010, and now we have a new book that perhaps traces Berenson’s life even more clearly: Marisa Berenson: A Life in Pictures brings together more than 300 shots featuring the model. It’s an exploration not only of her fantastic career, but also of the history of fashion, art and cinema." ~Vogue Italy

"Her incredible, precocious, fabulous life will see all new life this October in a book from Rizzoli, complete with an introduction by Hamish Bowles, a conversation with Diane von Furstenberg, and guest-edited by Steven Meisel." ~Hint Magazine

"“Marisa Berenson: A Life in Pictures” is a lavish and deeply personal visual biography that reveals the life of an extraordinary woman who has been at the center of society, fashion, film, and contemporary culture for decades." ~Fashionwindows.com

About the Author

Hamish Bowles is the European editor at large for American Vogue. He is the author of numerous books, including Balenciaga: Spanish Master. Diane von Furstenberg is a legendary fashion designer and “It Girl” in her own right.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847836541
• ISBN-13: 978-0847836543
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 1.2 x 11.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Fashion

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a bio; not really a fashion book - what is it? November 17, 2011

By OaklandBookworm

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I remember looking at my mother's Vogue magazines & seeing a beautiful model that I was later to know was named Marisa Berenson. Ms. Berenson truly defined an era, the boomers at the height of flower power & the apotheosis of post-modern. So I was delighted when I saw this book & couldn't wait to get it. Being weaned on my mom's fashion magazines, the 60's and early '70s fashion images are indelibly branded in my memory. Unfortunately, I am not sure how to make sense of the book; it just doesn't hang together. The full page photos by the iconic photographers, Penn, Scavullo, de Rosnay, Aarons, Horst, etc. are unquestionably stunning, but there are questionable editorial choices that I would not have expected of Rizzoli, which really takes away from the book. Either Ms. Berenson was ill advised, or the editors rushed to print? To wit: Some photos are obviously reproductions of photos; not produced by negatives. The result is that the images are grainy, and image quality not what I would expect of a fine publisher. Some photos have been enlarged when they were never meant to support an image 5x the original, and sadly suffer distortion. Only the first few full photo pages/last few photo pages of the book have dates of when photos were taken. The inside of the book is characterized by pages of photos, some full page and others punctuated by mish-mash collages of thumbnail photos showing Ms. Berenson with people who she hobbed nobbed with - some famous, some, well who cares, there are so many thumbnail images. It sort of has the feel of a high school yearbook. Each thumbnail photo is numbered & individuals identified by name on a side bar of the page. Some numbers don't match, some individuals are misnamed, some are named but are not in the picture! (E.g., one photo just has the arm of the person named - I know it's a thumbnail photo, but someone at Rizzoli was scissor-happy.) Just two editorial narratives, one with Diane von Furstenberg, revealing how they met & how they went skiing. Chronology? Commentaries on fashion in the never-to-be repeated heady days of the haute couture? Experiences working Harper's & Vogue as the "It" model? Interesting insights to being the first and perhaps only uber supermodel (pedigree + supermodel)of the 20th century? Any captions to accompany those great fashion photos? Why is the photo that launched a thousand jet-set-wannabes to Sardinia - I am talking about the Slim Aarons photo of purple-turbaned Marisa Berenson living la dolce vita beachside - blown up to full page & out of focus; the ink separation of the book blurring in the process? There are late 60s, 70s photos mixed in with later and probably more recent photos of Marisa Berenson -- are we to be given the impression that the beautiful Marisa "then", looks the same as the beautiful Marisa "now"? (Shades of Dorian Gray.) This book would have been fasincinating if there was a narrative or anecdotes (in first or third person) of Marisa Berenson's journey through an incredible life and her fashion insights, in addition to the gorgeous looks, beautiful people, clothes & places. As it is, it's not a "life" in pictures (no chronology, not commentary), and it's not fashion history (no captions, no dates!). I think Marisa Berenson deserves a better book!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars truly an original October 17, 2011

By Shane Dane

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

i'm not sure which is more shocking, the half a dozen photos of her topless or the two of her exhusband Richard Golub but it's very large and chock full of one of the legendary beauties of all time. It's really impossible to take a bad picture of her and his book proves that. There are nice "as told to"s Vogue's Hamish Bowles and designer DVF that are some of the most revealing portions in the book. There are relatively few photos of her late twin sister Berry who died in 9/11 and nothing is said about her but as Marisa recently said "there are no words." But as for the pictures, they're quite revealing, who knew Diana Vreeland was married? She could have stayed out of the spotlight but i'm glad she didn't.

5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasure to see May 2, 2013

By Brigitte Gaupp-berghausen

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is a pkeasure to look at such beautiful pictures! One can not get egnough of it! It would be nice to see more just private pictures of Marisas parents and family...