A new book by the photographer distills the essence of a formidable era
Photography courtesy of PAMELA HANSON
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
“There was so much freedom. We traveled for weeks…we ran around on the streets, we had time to create ideas and bring them to life,” says PAMELA HANSON, describing the fashion editorials she shot in the 1990s. It was a decade when the photographer — whose work has appeared over the past 30 years in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and C, among other publications — trained her lenses on some of fashion’s most recognizable faces. Now she has compiled era-defining images, outtakes, and behind-the scenes moments in a new volume, Pamela Hanson: The 90s (Rizzoli, $85).
The monograph arrives following a spate of titles chronicling the glamourous milieu of magazines and models from which these photographs emerged, including former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter’s memoir, When the Going Was Good, and Michael M. Grynbaum’s recent history of Condé Nast, Empire of the Elite. “I remember just total creativity from everyone: designers, models, magazines,” Hanson says. Her documentary-style work shifts the focus back to the models themselves, honing a unique gaze that captured the spirit of the decade along with the often-minimalist designs they wear. “I love and respect these girls so much and wanted them to feel comfortable and to show their personalities,” she adds.
“California was always my first choice — the climate is perfect, and so is the landscape.”
Hanson, who grew up in Switzerland (alongside best friend Lisa Love, the longtime West Coast director of Vogue and Teen Vogue who penned the book’s foreword), began taking photographs in her teens. When she moved to Paris in 1980 at age 26, Hanson was shooting intimate portraits of friends and built a darkroom in her bathroom for the mostly black-and-white images she favored. Many pictures in the new volume are set there, but she preferred the West Coast for summer collections (shot during the frigid winters in Paris and New York). “California was always my first choice — the climate is perfect, and so is the landscape, so much diversity of options,” Hanson says. There’s Eva Herzigová at a sunny L.A. racetrack. Angela Lindvall and Sebastien Triel leap for a shot across a Palm Springs tennis court. Trish Goff and Carolyn Murphy stroll along a Beverly Hills sidewalk.
Sofia Coppola sees a relaxed intimacy in Hanson’s images, noting there’s a feel of girls lensed by another girl. “I often get asked if I think being a woman makes a difference when shooting,” Hanson says. “And of course I don’t know anything different, so I can’t really say.” But, she says, her shoots in this era often felt like a gathering with girlfriends. “Personally, I want to know them, to make them feel comfortable so they can be themselves.”
Feature image: Pamela Hanson’s portrait of Patty Sylvia and Paul Coster.
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of C Magazine.
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