De Vassal’s photography often featured stylish women dressed in the latest collections, set against minimalist or refined backdrops that emphasized the clothes’ form and detail. Some of his notable works include photographs of Pierre Cardin’s coats in 1961 and Jean Patou’s evening dresses in 1957.

These beautiful photos are just a glimpse of Roland de Vassal’s work capturing iconic fashion and beauty of the 1960s.

Work on the TZ began in 1960 and the first road trials were conducted in 1961. However, it took a long time to reach production because precedence was given to the new Giulia and 2600 models. Zagato, who had bodied previous competition Giulias, was entrusted to create the body.

Zagato’s lightweight aluminum bodies were ideally suited for the TZ’s advanced chassis. Their recent advances in aerodynamics led the inclusion of a Kamm Tail which helped raise stability without introducing drag. A marvel of period racing technology, and stunningly beautiful still decades after introduction, the Alfa Romeo TZ1, so called for its first iteration, remains today an icon of sports car design.

Resplendent in handmade Zagato alloy coachwork tightly draped over state-of-the-art mechanicals, the cleverly integrated aerodynamic features result in a superb confluence of motoring excellence that continues to impress even when compared to modern sports cars today.

Production ceased on the TZ in 1967 with a mere 112 examples built during the entire four-year production run. Here is a set of beautiful photos of the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ1.

David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve starred together in Tony Scott’s stylish 1983 horror film, The Hunger. Their on-screen chemistry as ancient vampire lovers, Miriam and John Blaylock, was a significant draw for the film, contributing to its cult status despite initial mixed reviews.

“[The film] allowed me to appear, for the first time in a long time, in a fantasy film. And moreover, it allowed me to meet David Bowie, very different from the image he gives on stage: he is in fact a rather shy man, a great lover of painting and antiques. Like me.” – Catherine Deneuve, quoted in Le Soir Illustré 1983.

While Bowie and Susan Sarandon reportedly had no trouble interacting during filming, he was apparently a “touch intimidated” by the legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve. Despite this, both were highly professional.

The film is renowned for its striking visual style, heavily influenced by 1980s music videos. Deneuve was dressed by her close friend and frequent collaborator Yves Saint Laurent, contributing to her character Miriam’s eternally elegant and somewhat cold allure. Bowie’s character also exuded an aristocratic glamour.

For the scenes where his character, John, rapidly ages, Bowie took a unique “method” approach to achieve a hoarse voice. He reportedly spent several nights screaming punk songs at the top of his lungs on the George Washington Bridge in New York. The impressive old-age makeup for his transformation was created by special effects artist Dick Smith.

The core story revolves around Miriam, an ancient vampire, and her current lover, John. The central conflict arises when John, after centuries, begins to rapidly age and decay, prompting Miriam to seek a new companion in the form of a gerontologist, Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon). The film explores themes of eternal life, youth, decay, and the hunger for both blood and connection.

Susan Sarandon revealed that there were financial difficulties during filming, leading to “shaky” situations to finish the movie. In one instance, during pick-up shots in a gas garage in Brooklyn, the owner reportedly ran onto the set with a gun, demanding more money, causing chaos.

The final scene of Sarah on the balcony was added at the studio’s behest, with a view to leaving the film open-ended and allowing for possible sequels. Sarandon later expressed regret that this sequence seemed to make no sense in the context of the rest of the film: “The thing that made the film interesting to me was this question of, ‘Would you want to live forever if you were an addict?’ But as the film progressed, the powers that be rewrote the ending and decided that I wouldn’t die, so what was the point? All the rules that we’d spent the entire film delineating, that Miriam lived forever and was indestructible, and all the people that she transformed [eventually] died, and that I killed myself rather than be an addict [were ignored]. Suddenly I was kind of living, she was kind of half dying… Nobody knew what was going on, and I thought that was a shame.”

Bowie was excited to work on the film but was concerned about the final product. He said “I must say, there’s nothing that looks like it on the market. But I’m a bit worried that it’s just perversely bloody at some points.”

Charlotte Martin, a prominent British model of the 1960s, featured in a Coca-Cola advertisement photographed by Clive Arrowsmith in 1968. In addition to her modeling career, Charlotte Martin was known for her associations with prominent musicians of the time, such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, further cementing her status as a notable figure in the 1960s cultural scene.

Here, Arrowsmith talked about the photoshoot:

“After Art School in 1968 I worked stoking boilers at a local telephone exchange from 6 a.m until 2 p.m – just so I could paint in the afternoons, those were the days. I then very fortunately got a job at Rediffusion’s Graphics studios, as someone there had seen my drawings and paintings in a graphic arts magazine.

“This is where I was lucky enough to meet and work with the exceptionally talented Art Director and graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman. Rediffusion are probably best known for the classic music show Ready, Steady, Go! that introduced The Beatles, Stones, Clapton and Hendrix to the world.

“I became interested in photography then because I couldn’t find a good photographer to shoot pictures for the graphics I was making for Ready Steady Go! and other projects. I used the lighting of renaissance paintings as my guide. I had the advantage of developing in and around all the incredible amenities, the cameras, film, lights of Rediffusion were at my disposal. I was so lucky to find myself in that position looking back. That’s when I got hooked on taking and making photographs. I used to stay in the darkroom over night sometimes, just practicing. I never took a holiday because I just wanted to take pictures. It was a breakthrough moment for me. I was never a photographic assistant, I just started doing it out of necessity at Rediffusion.

“One day at work Arnold said to me, ‘Listen I’ve been speaking with some Art Directors working for Coca Cola and they want to do a really different kind of Coca Cola calendar not the usual smiling girls smiling over a bubbling glass, they want to do something more edgy do you have any ideas?’ We put our heads together and I  said, ‘Why don’t we make a huge Coca Cola metal cap (in those days they were glass bottles with metal caps) and get it perfectly made by  the set builder at Rediffusion?’ They did a beautiful job it was 5ft across and made of polystyrene. The idea was to photograph a girl traveling everywhere with it. In the images she would be a heroine acting in many different scenarios. In one scene she is rescued by a giant heroic Coca Cola cap  coming along the railway track, or as a diver, parachutist etc. basically where ever she goes the Coca Cola cap goes with her, ever present in every scene, there is the Coca Cola ikon. The main character was a femme fatale in a way. By some miracle, we actually won the pitch.

“Unfortunately, just before the shoot I injured my knee trying to sit in the double lotus position (an early attempt at being the Buddhist, I later became) a little too over enthusiastically perhaps. My knee  was so bad I had to sit in a wheel chair for the entire shoot. I had no assistants at the time and I was using a hand held flash. I had to get my friends to help by putting the flash on a stick so I could get the height I wanted. I wanted the falling from above cascade of dramatic so we had to improvise. In these images the flash over whelmed the day light in  the background, which is a technique I later used on the Pirelli Calendars. The flash lights the figure in the foreground and darkens the background. For a fraction of a second the flash is more powerful than the day light which is how I got the graphic look. I used the same technique for the Peter Gabriel shoot I did in the Roman Baths too.

“They ran a few copies of the calendar I think and maybe used some of the images for press but generally this shoot was considered too ‘edgy’ for a mainstream Coca Cola campaign. When I look back they ended up being a set of striking images particularly considering I was not yet an officially a fully fledged photographer. I was just trying to get into the business, it was a long three days  waiting for the Kodachrome film  to comeback from Kodak. I was full of fear and trepidation, had I got the exposures right, there were no clip tests so it was an anxious wait. You had no way the of knowing if you’d got it right or wrong, no polaroids, no digital, just the wait the long wait for the transparencies.

“The model was the wonderful Charlotte Martin who was going out with Eric Clapton at the time. I went to art college with Eric (Kingston) and I remember meeting Eric again with Charlotte at his mews apartment in Mayfair for a drink. They were classic swinging sixties times. It was a great time to be young and creative. Arnold was and still is a great friend of mine. He has had the most incredible career since then and now even has an OBE. Though this is by no means as prestigious, I do remember that Arnold signed my first hire purchase agreement for me to get my own second hand Hasselblad and a NikonF, a moment that changed my life. Thanks Arnold!”

Stewart went on to appear in several films, including The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Brigadoon (1954), and Night Passage (1957). She also had guest roles in television series such as Bat Masterson and Burke’s Law.

In the 1970s, Stewart co-hosted the game shows Gambit and High Rollers, both produced by her husband, television producer Merrill Heatter. She passed away in 2011, at the age of 81 in Beverly Hills, California. Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of a young Elaine Stewart in the 1950s.

This is how Ejnar Mikkelsen, a Danish explorer, was photographed in 1912 when he was found. Ejnar was isolated with Iver Iversen, from the same expedition, for two and a half years in a hut in Greenland waiting to be rescued.

Williams was deeply influenced by the Impressionist movement, particularly in his depiction of light and reflections. He traveled extensively across Europe, painting scenes in Venice, St. Tropez, Paris, Brittany, and St. Ives, often working en plein air to capture the changing qualities of natural light.

His works were regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1891, and he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (A.R.A.) in 1924, a full member (R.A.) in 1933, and a Senior R.A. in 1936. Williams passed away on his 76th birthday, 20 July 1936, in Plymouth, Devon.

This collection showcases the luminous beauty of Terrick Williams’s paintings from the late 19th to early 20th century.

In Luc Besson’s 1994 film Léon: The Professional, Natalie Portman made her unforgettable feature film debut as Mathilda Lando. Portman was 11 years old when she was cast and 12 when the movie was filmed.

Mathilda is a 12-year-old girl who forms an unlikely and complex bond with a professional hitman, Léon (Jean Reno), after her family is brutally murdered by corrupt DEA agents led by the unhinged Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman). Mathilda seeks refuge with Léon and eventually persuades him to teach her the “cleaner” trade so she can avenge her younger brother’s death.

Portman’s performance as Mathilda was widely praised by critics, showcasing remarkable emotional depth and maturity for a young actress. It launched her career and is still considered one of her most iconic roles.

However, the film and Portman’s portrayal have also been the subject of controversy, particularly in recent years. Some viewers and critics have found the sexualization of Mathilda, a child character, to be unsettling and inappropriate, especially with certain scenes and the ambiguous nature of her relationship with Léon. Portman herself has spoken about having “complicated” and “cringey” feelings about the film in hindsight, stating that being sexualized as a child made her feel the need to be “prudish” and “conservative” in her later career choices.

Léon: The Professional was released in France on September 14, 1994. The film was a commercial success, sold 18,662,979 tickets worldwide. It grossed 26.8 million French francs ($5.1 million) in its opening week in France and was number one for three weeks. In France, it sold 3,623,153 tickets in total.