Mario Testino
Mario Testino
Mario Testino OBEis a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer. His work has featured internationally in magazines such as Vogue, V Magazine, Vanity Fair and GQ. He has also created images for brands such as Gucci, Burberry, Versace, Michael Kors, Chanel, Estée Lauder and Lancôme...
NationalityPeruvian
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth30 October 1954
CityLima, Peru
CountryPeru
america bit britain fit found open point south
South America was not really that open - you had to fit in, and I didn't fit in. I was different - my tastes, my point of view - were a bit weird, and I found in Britain a sense of calm, that I could just be.
believed country trained
England is the country where I learned my profession. They are the ones that trained me, they are the ones that believed in me.
adore
I adore being able to go to the Oscars and know every single person at the party afterwards.
affinity buy clothes hang older style time whenever women year
I've always had an affinity with women. It probably started with my mother when I was young, but it was intensified by my sister, Elena, who is one year older than me. I used to hang out with her all the time, and whenever I travelled, I used to buy her clothes and style her.
easier sort
A lot of fashion photographers will do the same sort of image for many years; it's easier to be successful if you do that.
anguish fifth glory jackie kennedy photograph walking war
A photograph can make you feel so many different things. When you look at war photographs of Vietnam, or something similar, it makes you feel anguish and sadness and pain. Then in other moments, when you look at Jackie Kennedy walking down Fifth Avenue, that makes you feel glory and richness.
bland blank girls models
A lot of photographers like models to be blank canvases - but bland girls don't influence me. I don't like playing with dolls; I like playing with people.
aware connection country history loses precious travels truly
I have become aware on my travels that when a country loses the connection between its history and its traditional dress, something truly precious is lost.
attraction attracts pot tormented
I don't like a tormented photograph. Something attracts you in them, but the attraction isn't because she has a pot on her head or tonnes of make-up and weird clothes and weird everything.
aware best camera family members needs royal
Even someone as photographed and aware of the camera as members of the royal family needs to feel completely comfortable if they are to look their best.
beginning boy british cecil grandeur looked norman peru represent seemed society suddenly vanished wonderful work
At the beginning of my career, as a boy from Peru in London, suddenly discovering British culture and society, I looked so much at the work of the photographers Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson, which seemed to represent a wonderful vanished grandeur of my new country.
collection event god graduate john oh shows
Oh my God, the graduate shows in London are so important! I still remember going to see John Galliano's graduate collection - that was an event I'll never forget.
decided diana interested original photograph picture rather royal
My original idea was to photograph Princess Diana in her tiara. But then I thought, am I interested in seeing another picture of her as a royal person, or would I rather see what she is actually about? And that's why I decided to do her without jewels, without shoes, without trimmings.
chance country england follow gave individual people personal subtlety wit
England gave me a chance. It's a very individual country where people have a personal style; they don't all follow a trend. The subtlety and wit of England is incredible, and they are very creative.