Purple Magazine
— F/W 2009 issue 12

Helmut Newton’s Dentist

Ten years ago, my girlfriend of the time, the German photographer Katja Rahlwes, gave me the number of her dentist, JACQUES VETTIER. She said he was a “bit tough,” but an excellent doctor. What I didn’t know was that Jacques had been HELMUT NEWTON’S DENTIST, and that he would become a friend.
His office contains a unique mix of antiques, trophies from safaris (one of his passions), pictures of Helmut Newton (including a Newton self-portrait with him), post-surrealist paintings, fashion illustrations, and, of course, medical instruments. Jacques was the one who found the veritable prosthetic devices Newton often featured in his pictures of women. When I told him that I’d started taking pictures and wanted to shoot some in his office, he said, “Sure. But I want you to have naked girls in them. I may have a celebrity clientele, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

photography by OLIVIER ZAHM 

 

Michelle Buswell @ MARILYN and Sophie Willing @ STORM, models — Yasmine Eslami, style  — Maxime Lefebvre-Roque, photographer’s assistant — Masae Takanaka, stylist’s assistant

[Table of contents]

F/W 2009 issue 12

Table of contents

purple EDITO

purple NEWS

purple BEST OF THE SEASON

purple INTEVIEW

purple FASHION WOMEN

purple FASHION MEN

purple NAKED

purple LOVE

purple BEAUTY

purple DOCUMENTS

purple TRAVEL

purple PARIS

PURPLE NIGHT

purple VISUAL ESSAY

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