Photographer Herb Ritts Dies Aged Fifty

And I’m gone, through a crack in the past…

Sad to report the death of celebrity photographer Herb Ritts last Thursday. Herb, who was just fifty, died of complications from pneumonia. He will be remembered by Bowie fans as the photographer responsible for many stunning pictures of David in the mid to late eighties and early nineties, including a Rolling Stone cover, and contributions to both the 1987 and 1990 tour programmes… and of course the shot above, which was published in his beautiful book, Notorious.

This is what Herb had to say about the session from which this shot was taken:

David Bowie, HOLLYWOOD, 1989

David Bowie’s done it all in terms of visuals. He pulled this outfit out of his suitcase, which I think was from 1970. I want to say Yohji Yamamoto* designed it, but I’m not sure. I just loved this thing. Shooting him in it wasn’t like putting something on somebody who had worn the thing twenty years ago. It was almost like a space oddity, very strange and futuristic.

The outfit was actually designed by Kansai Yamamoto and worn by David for the ’73 Aladdin Sane tour.