movie actress of the 1940s
----------------------- [excerpt from Jerry Hall: My life in pictures] -----------------
In Paris in 1973, Helmut Newton was the top photographer. He was producing haunting, seductive, shocking photographs for French Vogue and Photo magazine. Helmut's photos (which are reproduced here from original tearsheets) were both distinctive and stylised.
There was a buzz about his work; he was inspiring not only to photographers, but also to filmmakers, artists and fashion designers and I longed to work with him. Helmut had created a world inhabited by powerful, glamorous, sexy women. He had been brought up in Berlin in the thirties and early memories of his glamorous mother's style of chiffon and lace, her furs and perfume, influenced him.
Helmut was part-Jewish and had escaped from Germany during the war. He moved to Australia, where he met his wife, June. They had married young, and were very much in love when I met them 26 years later.
I first met Helmut at the Club Sept, the happening club in Paris in the early seventies, where we were introduced by my friend Antonio Lopez. I wore a gold satin forties vintage suit and a blue ostrich feather boa from the Mesquite Sewing Centre.
My waist-length hair had been pin-curled, producing a thick wave and I wore red lipstick and gold glitter eye shadow. Helmut asked me to pose for him for Photo magazine the next day and I was thrilled. I arrived at his studio at 11 am -- no-one started work early in those days. We grabbed a taxi and went to Pigalle; the slightly seedy part of town, where there were a lot of sex shops.
We stopped at one and Helmut and the sales assistant chose a lot of S&M outfits and handed them to me to try on behind a curtain. They were mostly bits of leather and harness and I felt very uneasy about them and kept saying, 'No, they're too small'. Finally, I tried on a few things that fitted and Helmut chose some whips and handcuffs to go with them.
We went back to the studio where he had a hair stylist and make-up artist Jacques Clement waiting. Helmut's wife June was there, she was very friendly and I started to feel a bit more relaxed about it all. Helmut was very particular about my hair and make-up; he wanted me to have matte red lipstick, dark eyes and forties Veronica Lake-style hair.
Jacques Clement transformed me; I looked like a Hollywood star from the old black-and-white movies that I had grown up dreaming about. My hair was perfection; it's still my favourite hairstyle. Helmut was pleased, but very particular. To complete the look, he said, my fingernails needed to be painted red.
When I was ready I was given very high heels, fishnets, a leather pointed bra, leather hot pants and waist cincher. I went on the set and Helmut gave me a long bullwhip, which I proceeded to crack. I didn't feel that Helmut was interested in me sexually, but I could see that he was clicking into some fantasy of his own.
He seemed very pleased with me, but didn't want me to smile or laugh. The more cross and haughty I looked, the more excited he got. We did a few other outfits with various whips and paddles and handcuffs, and then he gave me something that looked like a horse bridle to put on next.
I burst into tears and he looked shocked and said, 'Please don't cry, I hate it when models cry, you're ruining your make-up'. He asked me what was wrong and I said, 'I don't want to do porn -- I want to be in Vogue'. He said, 'Silly girl, this isn't porn, it's art'. Then he said, 'If Vogue is what you want, we will do that next'.
He kept his word. A few weeks later we did the cover of French Vogue Beauty. Helmut also did an extraordinary shoot for Vogue Beauty, of me with a raw steak on my eye -- the idea was to show readers how to cure a black eye, and it made for a very dramatic picture.
Helmut, June and I became very good friends. We worked together for over 30 years and travelled the world together, working in different locations for French and American Vogue. We had a wonderful, warm relationship and enjoyed many terrific dinners together. And we produced some beautiful photographs.
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