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“When people ask me which is your favourite portrait, they expect it to be Diana, or someone famous. But the answer is my dog, Puffy. They think I mean Puff Daddy. No, it is the dog.” – Patrick Demarchelier
Patrick Demarchelier is one of the world’s most coveted fashion photographers. He has created iconic portraits and photographed covers and campaigns for many influential publications and fashion houses. In 2003, he said: “I have no formal qualifications, just the school of life. I learned most by just taking pictures; a lot of pictures. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but it’s often from your mistakes that you learn most. Being a photographer is like being an athlete. You must practice every day.”
Born in 1943, Demarchelier was raised in the small town of La Havre, near Paris, by his mother.
His love of photography began aged 17 when he was given his first camera by his stepfather. He moved to Paris at the age of 20 to work for a photography lab, printing newspaper photographs. He later became the assistant to a photographer who shot film magazine covers and eventually the assistant to Hans Feurer, a photographer who worked with Vogue.
He worked with Grace Coddington during her tenure at British Vogue and has credited her with helping to launch his career. “It was the best magazine in the world, the one you really wanted to work for, so to be with her was a big breakthrough,” he told the Telegraph in 2012.
In 1975, having won a reputation as a respected fashion photographer in France, Demarchelier decided to follow his girlfriend to New York, despite not speaking a word of English. He worked as a freelance photographer and assisted the likes of Henry Cartier-Bresson, Terry King and Jacques Guilbert.
