(photo: Rizzoli)
And Come September, You Too Will Be Able To Experience A Bit Of His World Via Rizzoli, In A Book Of The Same Name entitled ‘Antonio: Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco’
Puerto-Rican born fashion illustrator, Antonio Lopez, was by far a true force to be reckoned with in the world of fashion unlike anyone who was anyone ever encountered. An illustrator to many high fashion labels and top publications including The New York TImes, Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) and Interview Magazine, during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, this book will be able to show you how he changed people’s perception of fashion illustration
and fashion as a whole. Yet, he didn’t do it alone – he had help from many of his friends.
In the 70’s, he moved to Paris with his creative partner, Puerto-Rican art-director Juan Ramos (shown below with Antonio and 60’s supermodel Cathee Dahmen),
where Antonio’s distinct eye for finding sexiness was elevated to a whole other level. Here he is posing in the Luxemburg garden in 1971, which one could easily was styled by current day geniuses, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony and co-creative directors of fashion house Kenzo – just look at that sweater, jacket with pin and Antonio’s whole demeanor with that cigarette – were! Sure the hair’s dated, but, who cares really, it’s Antonio Lopez!
Not only was he able to breathe life into 2-dimensional portrayals of sexy women wearing sexy clothes, since he and Ramos couldn’t live without fashion, being surrounded by sexy women was another thing they couldn’t do without, for inspiration.
Said to have discovered and launch the modeling careers of such iconic beauties like models Pat Cleveland (below),
(photo: Peter Lindbergh)
Jerry Hall (his + Ramos’ Parisian roomie), shown here, being filmed by Antonio in their Paris apartment
(photo: Norman Parkinson)
and Grace Jones, photographed here by Antonio for her album, ‘Portfolio’.
(photo: Antonio Lopez)
And amidst all of these beauties, he also worked with fashion royalty like Karl Lagerfeld, beautifully captured below in his ‘mankini’ by Antonio
and Yves Saint Laurent. Yet, this crew of talent didn’t just work hard, they played hard too, especially in the Paris’s many underground clubs.
The first complete monograph of his work, scheduled to be released Sept. 8, ‘Antonio: Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco’, written by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha, with a contribution by the amazing Bill Cunningham, an epilogue by Anna Sui, and an introduction by the incredible, Andre Leon Talley, will definitely give you a broad look at Antonio’s work and be another great coffee table book to add to your growing fashion book collection. Featuring his iconic works, the book will also showcase never-before-seen Instamatic photos, similar to this one, of a young Jerry Hall,
behind-the-scenes Polaroids, letters, and ephemera, granting you a glimpse of how his career influenced so much of fashion today. Unfortunately Antonio Lopez will never know the extent of his influence having lost his life to AIDS in 1987. Following in 1995, Juan Ramos also dies of AIDS.
And if you feel like your appetite for Antonio is still not satisfied with the book above and you have room for one more book on your coffee table, then pick up a hardcover copy of ‘Instamatics‘ by Antonio Lopez. The book features a lot of notable figures spanning the 70’s including Jerry Hall (above), Karl Lagerfeld, Pat Cleveland, Divine and
Paloma Picasso pictured below. As the daughter of Pablo Picasso, it’s ironic Antonio shot her as he was known as ‘the Picasso of fashion illustration’.
Antonio once said, ‘The flaws in your vision will give you style,’ and that certainly seems to be the daily credo of today’s many fashionistas.