call me irv

Irving Penn, one of the 20th century’s most prolific and influential photographers of fashion,the famous and the undiscovered, whose signature blend of classical elegance and cool minimalism was recognizable to magazine readers and museum goers worldwide, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan at age 92.

I was privileged to work with him for many years-I was fresh of out of Parson's School of Design and got what I thought was the best job ever-as the associate Art Director at Clinique Cosmetics . Working at Clinique for 8 years was an amazing start to my career but I can say one of the highlights of my job was spending time with a man who took the time to talk to me and insisted I call him "IRV".

As the associate art director (which I used to joke was like being the friend of the art director's friend) I did the grunt work. Irving Penn did all of our still life photography for Clinique at the time, it was amazing and truly groundbreaking, being simple, graceful and very, very classy- fitting the brand perfectly.

As the associate I would do all the preliminary layouts in my office and polaroid the setups.
Once the art director approved them -the next step was "Penn" as we lovingly called him.

I would then proceed to the studio and deliver the layouts -products and props. It was a job that most people would complain about except- it had a big plus, Every time I went to the studio I would sit and talk with "Penn" for hours. He was approachable and friendly to me, gave me tips and pointers, showed me the look he was trying to get with his photographs, which gave Clinique the beautifully polished look that sold the product like crazy.

this is my favorite photo of Irving Penn's from his beautiful book "Flowers", It's called called Blue Moon (it always reminded me of myself as a party girl

after a great night out). Lilies is another one of my favorites, but in addition to still life he photographed important figures of the era, like Picasso, Le Corbusier, and the cleaning ladies in his studio. He had a great eye, and shared his knowledge with me and other young artists. I owe a lot to Irving Penn, he was a teacher and a friend. He will be missed. Ciao.