Lionel Kazan was born in Monaco on May 9, 1930, of a Russian father and Polish mother. It was here that he met Marc Allégret, the film director and photographer, who gave him his first camera when he was twelve. It was the beginning of his passion and future vocation.
Stunning fashion photography by Lionel Kazan in the 1950s and 1960s
Kazan started as a laboratory assistant at Condé Nast where he met the greatest post-war fashion photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton. But it was his meeting with Hélène Lazareff that began his long and beautiful colaboration with the founder of Elle magazine. He produced 92 covers for her, from 1953-1965.
Many well-known models posed for him, including Dorian Leigh, Bettina Graziani, Marisa Berenson and Pia Rossilli (who became his wife). In 1956, Kazan worked for Alex Liberman at Vogue and for Harper’s Bazaar before returning to France where he resumed work for Elle and in addition for Femina and Marie-Claire.
Kazan stopped his photographic career to take up painting. He died in 2016 at the age of 86.
These stunning pics are part of his fashion photography that Kazan shot in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bettina Graziani, photo by Lionel Kazan, quai de Béthune, Paris, Elle, July 1954
Bettina Graziani, photo by Lionel Kazan, variant used for cover of Elle, July 1954
Suzy Parker in dress by Jean Patou on the roof of the Louvre Museum, photo by Lionel Kazan, Elle, July 1954
Bettina Graziani, photo by Lionel Kazan, cover of Nouveau Femina, March 1955
Bettina poses in an embroidered dress by Lempereur, photo by Lionel Kazan, Elle, May 30, 1955
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