When a regular girl Mario Testino - remarks 4th February 2009

Written by Cristo

Interview was taken place in July 2006. It was published at City Magazine, a major Chinese publication now and then. I am no longer a fashion editor since then because after that Paris trip, I interviewed Mario Testino, Editor-in-chief & Creative Director of SELF-SERVICE, Ezra Petronio and Editor in Chief of PURPLE, Olivier Zham. After all, I wouldn’t say my journalist career had reached the climax but I did have satisfaction.

When I look back the interview I wrote about Mario Testino, the tone was full of surprises, navies and not to mention my flattering to Mr. Mario. At the end of the day, I wanted to show how he natural-born to make people feel at ease, defensive less & confident around him. I believe it is the key he reaches this high of his career and become A-list female celebrities appointed photographer. He is able to break down the human barrier between he and his subjects effortlessly.

As I have become a cynic now, the interview would be in a whole new perspective if it happened today. The tone of voice would be less flattering and more changeling, such as “who is the big bitch, and who is the bigger bitch?”

When a regular girl met Mario Testino - part 5

HE IS ALIVE

Story by Cristo

Female celebrities love to be photographed by Mario Testino, Anna Wintour wrote it in her forward in the Book Front Row Backstage Mario Testino,

“his phenomenal personality…..he’s charming and funny and confident…so if he’s shooting someone who is terribly famous, like Madonna, he can make her feel so at ease that she is not afraid to put herself and her image into Mario’s hands.”

Before I met him, it was just all glossy fashion flattering words, but now I have experienced it first hand. In this short-notice 30 minutes face-to-face conversation, (yes, it was a conversation rather than an interview because we communicated with minds instead of mechanical like cold boring question and answer.) in the legendary (Co Co Chanel used to live there as a home in Second War.) hotel Ritz Paris it solved the myth. The answer is simple, he cares. With all the fame and success that he has earned, he isn’t overwhelmed by it. He stays sober.

There were some things about him so remarkable that touched me deeply. His gentlemanly charm, that I believe all women no matter whether they are famous or not will absolutely adore.

He talked to me like a friend by making conversation things like “What is your horoscope?”, or said “Breath darling”, to relax me as I was nervous at the beginning, “come to London, my agency will help you to do anything.”, “I can give you a naked picture to put on the interview.” with sense of humor attached. I was screaming out loud inside because I am the most insignificant figure in the fashion world, and he opened a door for me which was so unnecessary for him. Before we left the Ritz, he left this sentence hanging in the air, “I don’t do many interviews as so many people have approached me for it. I think this interview is going to help your career.”

I am not lying and definitely not dreaming. I was deeply touched by it beyond what words can express. Mario Testino is a man who masters the superficial glamour of the fashion world creating desire. He has also managed to masters one of the greatest assets of humanity, kindness. He doesn’t isolate himself from the rest of the world, or furthermore, he doesn’t allow himself be over-self-indulgence in fashion world that could turn him into plastic. That explains why he always insists using natural light and capture natural beauty rather than turning himself into a photoshop freak.


From his book “ALIVE”,
“A (live) to be: full of power, energy or importance, not obsolete or exhausted, glowing, unexploded, charged or carry electricity, not detached. “ He is alive.

When a regular girl met Mario Testino - part 4

"I EARNED IT".

Story by Cristo

I couldn’t help but wonder that there must be something behind it that made him so caring, something maybe just more than his character. “When I first came to London I wanted to be a fashion photographer. Because I am from Peru people told me that it was impossible. They just slammed the door on me. ” He has been in my shoes and he refused to be those people who slammed the doors on him once. He turned his unpleasant experience into my pleasant experience, beyond my wildest dream.


Mario Testino is one of the favorite (or the most) photographer for the VOGUES. The one he photographed Sophia Coppola who wore a Marc Jacobs Black tube-evening dress styled by Carine Roitfeld for French Vogue was absolutely gorgeous and chic. What is the magic that he is creating behind the scene?

“I think fashion is about desire. We create dreams, we create desire. Fashion photography is about creating desire. When people see the campaign, they want the bags, the dresses or even want to have everything the campaign projects. Fashion is about right now, it is seasonal. Fashion photography is a social documentary recording contemporary lifestyle.” The whole world is thrilled by fashion because it is desirable and unattainable that makes it interesting and attractive.

It is the same formula that applies to models, being desirable. As the supermodel-domination is long dead, there are new faces every season flooding in everywhere. This implies that models have become disposable every season now. There are still a few who survived or who have made their own names for the past decade. “So what is the formula nowadays?” He said, “Perfection is boring. The little flaws make a person alive which is the essential of beauty nowadays. You can have an ugly face, funny eyes, bad teeth or a big face, but if you don’t have a great pairs of legs, just forget about it! ”

We should be delighted that fashion has become more human because “imperfection is prefect.” that Mario said. Or we should appreciate the designers and photographer’s sharp eyes and edgy spirits that change the fashion world because their creative genes naturally drive them faster to push the boundaries more. It can be easily explained why some of the most magnificent fashion figures stay at the top for so many years.

“Nothing is easy when it comes to inspiration. I always want to be better. I work hard and am curious about things. I am 50 year-old now but I still start working at 9 every morning. When I look at my pictures, I always think it can be better. My inspiration can come from anything, can be something very small in life. I love attending to details. I have found that traveling is a good way to find inspiration because you go to somewhere new and you don’t know what you are going to see and find. It is exciting. I am a curious person. I do a lot of research for every single shooting.”

A question rose in my mind, there are some secret unmentioned rules in the fashion business to make one’s survival, and actually what is his? “I have been here long enough to create my own world. I work with my own people, the editors, and stylists (Carine Roitfeld), and make up artists (Tom Pecheux), who I have worked with for so many years. They are my friends. Now I don’t work with other people but them. ” His eyes started to spark again. He earned this all and deserved it with no doubt and much applause.

When a regular girl met Mario Testino - Part 3

"I GIVE PEOPLE CHANCE."

Story by Cristo

His smiling face and green eyes went quiet all of the sudden, he put his finger on his lips, thought a few seconds and slightly shook his head. “That is why I chose my subjects very carefully.” “Have you ever make mistakes?” “Of course! I am not a Saint.” A long list of famous women immediately sprang to mind, who was the mistake? But more importantly, what are his criteria? What makes a Mario-Girl?

“They must be confident, have a sense of humor, modern, sensitive, with a good personality, being happy about herself. As long as they have something inside of them, then I can bring it out. But I can’t create it. The worst case is someone just sitting there doing nothing with herself. “So who on earth has it all?” “Lately, I have found Kate Moss as my new muse. She is so desirable. She is very happy right now and I am happy for her. The amazing thing about her is, she can like one thing this moment, and 15 minutes later, she can just change her mind without thinking about it. She is fascinating.” After so many years, Kate Moss still manages to stay at top of the industry, there is no doubt that she really has something fascinating, but besides her, how do him find a Mario-girl?

“My industry is about people. As long as I spend five minutes talking to a person, my instinct will tell me. When I saw you, I thought you have a nice personality. If I go to Hong Kong one day, I would like you to take me out. I think it is going to be fun.” I was more than flattered, more precisely, shocked. A person like Mario Testino has no need to flatter me but rather vice versa. He is a person who is not detached and alive. Even with the world at his feet, he didn’t stop feeling what was happening around him.

He is from Peru where he says everyone has such a warm and easy going character. He has a gift or charm to make people feel confident and comfortable around him and that is his charm! Being successful is one thing, but being charming is another thing. They don’t come along together. I read about it and I am experiencing it how unbelievable. It may be his worst judgment ever on a girl but don’t forget that he also has a good reputation of discovering tomorrow’s star models today, giving people an opportunity. There are many examples out there to prove this point. According to Anna Wintour, Georgina Grenville, Gisele Bundchen, Lisa Winkle, Carolyn Murphy and most recently Jacquetta Wheeler are a few examples. Obviously, the current Calvin Klein campaign girl Natalia Vodianova and the current Chanel campaign girl (she also was the Gucci girl photographed by Mario.) Daira Werbowy and Gemma Ward are the latest ones to make the list.

He is one of those few people who stand at the top of the world yet are generous enough to give new comers an opportunity as he understands more than others that just one chance could change one’s life. This reminds me that he is one of the fashion photographers who had vision to stop using the supermodels who dominated the fashion world in the 80’s and late 90’s, giving other girls a chance. And right here right now, he gave me a chance. “I like your character. You want it, you get it.”

WHEN A REGULAR GIRL MET MARIO TESTINO - PART 2

Story by Cristo

"I DOUBT AND I PRAY."

I once read the forward Gwyneth Paltrow wrote for his fashion photography book “ALIVE.” She wrote, “Mario is intoxicating... To bring people so startlingly into their “present” is a gift.”

I knew what she meant by this “gift.”

Besides attending the most exhilarating Paris Haute Couture show, Mario’s trip this time in Paris was about work, shooting Gwyneth Paltrow as a cover girl for American Vogue. So his schedule was heavily booked. I wrote him a terrible hand-written note and dropped it at the front desk of the Ritz Paris instead of just leaving him a message on an answering-machine. I truthfully mentioned I was leaving Paris on Sunday. He kindly asked his agency in Paris to arrange an interview with me which conveniently was on Saturday at 6p.m. in the Ritz Paris. When he showed up in the lobby, I was sitting by the front desk. He just walked into the lobby and from a distance gave me another of his terrific smiles, even though through it I could tell he was tired because he had been shooting all day long.

We started with his shooting with Gwyneth Paltrow who he has already been working with a lot of times. “I wake up at 6 a.m. everyday for the shooting and I have just finished it now. It is crazy, isn’t it? But I love it.” He said it with his eyes sparkling and I could feel his excitement electrifying the air just talking about it. It came so suddenly to my mind that he has been in fashion photography for nearly 30 years and still has so much passion for it.

Right before the day of the interview, I had eye-witnessed a Mario Testino celebrity-fashion shooting scene coincidently. I was on the Bridge Alexander III. There were two young men blocking one end of the bridge who told us someone had booked the bridge for a big scale shooting. We were wondering who has such power to block the bridge in the middle of Paris for a shooting. We looked at the other end of the bridge where we saw a large crane hanging a metal-box in the air with two men in it. A blonde girl wearing a pink evening gown was walking back and forth along the bridge with a few skating boys jumping around her. We asked the two young men and they told us it was Mario Testino and Gwyneth Paltrow. The setting of it was reminiscent of the scale of a small movie production.

“I strongly believe the concept that a shooting should come from the photographer instead of the photographer executing someone else’s idea. I am the person who looks through the camera, and the one who knows what is going on.” It sounds like a monopoly game but as a matter of fact, when it comes to the creative process, there is only one who is responsible for making sure the concept is delivered. “How does it work?” “Of course, I work with the fashion editors very closely. I respect their opinions.” Believe it or not, Mario said he values his staffs’ opinion highly. “After shooting every time, I always ask them to choose the best pictures which they think. Their choices are often against mine but regularly turn out to be the most popular ones.” “Have you ever doubted yourself?” I asked. “I pray! At the end of the day, it is about commercials but not art. I do collect art though.” The world’s satisfaction completes his satisfaction. After all who wants to live on an isolated island all alone?

A few years ago, I bought his book Front Row Back Stage Mario Testino., Anna Wintour the editor in chief of American Vogue, who is also known as the most powerful woman in the fashion world, wrote the forward about him that thrilled me.

“He definitely has Mario-Girl. Mario prefers a certain kind of woman – strong, self-assured, sexy – and usually wearing serious high heels.”

With my naivety I thought, Mario Girls must be everywhere in the fashion world, with so many models and socialites. I asked, “It must be easy to find them, but is it?”

When a regular girl met Mario Testino - part 1

Story by Cristo Lo

"LEAVE A MESSAGE AT RITZ”

“How do you know me?” Mr. Mario Testino asked me, his green eyes sparkling, when I met him in the Lobby of Ritz Paris hotel. It was 6p.m. and Paris was still bathed in sunshine in the middle of a beautiful summer. He was incredibly punctual for the appointment that surprised me deeply; that he came alone was another surprise. When he asked me that question, it was the third surprise. It showed me how humble he was. I mean show me anybody who had read Vogue for the past 10 years who didn’t recognize him.

The very first, impressive fashion pictures of his that I had seen was the famous black and white portrait of The Princess of Wale published in British Vogue. Then I remember the Gucci campaign which famously drove the world crazy with the sex appeal golden splash. One day, I saw his picture in Vogue, along with some glamorous fashionable women. I can’t remember who she was, but I definitely remember it was the first time I saw his face. Seeing his face in a glossy fashion magazine became the norm, with Kate Moss, Carine Roitfeld, Anna Wintour, Gwyneth Paltrow… The world’s most powerful and famous women wanted to be photographed by Mario Testino, even Madonna who has a reputation for being challenging to work with.

He had made his name. Mario Testino is arguably the most famous fashion photographer in the world since Helmut Newton. He has formed very strong relationships with celebrities who have managed to get themselves photographed by him, which means that she or he is not only famous but also an A-lister.


This interview all began in the Christine Dior Haute Couture Show. It took an hour for the show to start because Dior Haute Couture Show is known for being the celebrity fashion party of the year. Celebrities usually like to play the last-minute-arrival game. With at least 30 celebrities going to the party, you can understand how the show could start so late. I was wandering around taking pictures of the fashion people there when I saw Mario Testino chatting with his friend in the VIP area. I pointed my small digital camera at him, he noticed and smiled. This terrific smile boosted my confidence.

I looked for him after the show in the VIP area but disappointingly he was gone. So I decided to leave the Horse Race (the show venue of the show, John Galliano magically had a big pumpkin shape carriage with two horses showing on the run way.). As I was leaving he suddenly appeared in front of me like a rainbow after the rain. My earlier feeling of disappointment convinced me not to miss out again. I do not know where the impulsive came from. I just stepped forward, tapped on the shoulder and introduced myself as a fashion editor from a Chinese fashion magazine who would like to have an interview with him to accomplish my mission impossible. Let's dont forget i didnt made any advance appointment that i could image be pain in the butts as people like him are actually surrounded by a big crowd assistances & agencies etc.. The chance i could get through those people in such fashion is almost zero.

Amazingly he said, “But not now. Leave a message in the Ritz Paris.”

to be continue..