AT A GLANCE
- Known for
- The 1997 portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales, Gucci campaigns of the 1990s, many portraits of Kate Moss
- Works in
- Color and black and white
- Camera
- Not reliably documented
- Also
- Founder of the MATE museum in Lima; honorary OBE; Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur
- Start with
- Diana, Princess of Wales by Mario Testino (Taschen, 2006)
- Links
Mario Testino (born 1954) is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer based in London. Since the 1990s he has worked for Vogue, Vanity Fair and fashion houses such as Gucci, Versace and Burberry. He is known for bright, warm pictures of models, celebrities and royal families.
The story
London, May 1997. Diana, Princess of Wales, sat on a couch in a white studio. She wore evening gowns that she was putting up for a charity auction. At first she sat stiffly, with no expression. “No, no, no, this is what I want,” said Mario Testino, and he flopped onto the couch himself. Diana laughed.
He had come a long way to that couch. Born in Lima in 1954, he grew up in a Catholic family and as a boy wanted to be a priest. He started studies in economics, law and international relations, and finished none of them. In 1976 he moved to London to try photography. “I moved into an unconverted floor of a hospital,” he remembered. He worked as an apprentice in two London studios, waited tables at night and made portfolios for young models by day. He also dyed his hair pink, which helped people notice him.
Success came slowly. His work first appeared in Vogue in 1983. In the early 1990s he found his own style by looking back at his youth in Peru and Brazil. In 1995 he worked with Tom Ford and the stylist Carine Roitfeld on Gucci campaigns that helped bring the brand back. A campaign for Versace with Madonna made his name known. “I was a no one. Who is this Testino?” he said of that time. After it, “I became a brand.”
Therefore, when Diana wanted new portraits for Vanity Fair, she chose him. The pictures ran in the July 1997 issue. She died that August, and they became her last official portraits. Testino said her children had told her it was the most “her” they had seen. Later the work opened doors to other royal families. In 2002 his exhibition Portraits drew more visitors than any show before it at the National Portrait Gallery in London. In 2012 he opened the museum MATE in Lima.
The man who made a princess laugh had once lived on a hospital floor with no money. He has not forgotten it. “I didn’t have money to eat, let alone get a bus. So I have never lost the sense that tomorrow I might not have any work,” he said.
The work
- 1954Born on October 30 in Lima, Peru
- 1976Moves to London to start in photography
- 1983His work first appears in Vogue
- 1995Gucci campaigns with Tom Ford and Carine Roitfeld
- 1997Photographs Diana, Princess of Wales, for Vanity Fair
- 2002Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery becomes its most visited show
- 2012Opens the MATE museum in Lima
- 2018The New York Times reports misconduct allegations by male models and assistants; he denies them, and Condé Nast stops commissioning him
- 2024A Beautiful World is shown at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome
Lessons
Show, do not tell. When Diana sat stiffly, he did not explain. He flopped onto the couch himself, and she laughed.
Use your own story. In the early 1990s he built his style from memories of his youth in Peru and Brazil.
Keep working. Years of poverty in London taught him never to take the next job for granted.
Try this: at your next portrait session, when your subject freezes, do not give instructions. Sit or stand in front of the camera yourself and act out the mood you want. Then swap places and shoot the first reaction.
Gear
We could not find reliable sources about the cameras and lenses Testino uses, so we do not list any. Our earlier gear list was not verified and has been removed.
Books
Diana, Princess of Wales by Mario Testino (Taschen, 2006). A hardback of 136 pages with about 70 photographs from the relaxed Vanity Fair session in 1997, about five months before Diana’s death. It was made to go with the 2005 exhibition at Kensington Palace. Graydon Carter wrote the foreword and Meredith Etherington-Smith, who helped arrange the sitting, wrote an introduction. Hamish Bowles interviews Testino about the day, and Patrick Kinmonth edited and designed the book. The best place to start for anyone interested in his portraits.
Portraits (2002). The book of his exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, which drew more visitors than any show there before. The exhibition then toured for four years, to Milan, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Mexico City and Lima. The book gathers the faces that made his name: models, actors, musicians and members of royal families. A good overview of his celebrity portraits around the year 2000.
Kate Moss by Mario Testino (Taschen, 2010). A book devoted to his long work with Kate Moss, whom he photographed in Los Angeles for Harper’s Bazaar in 1996 and many times after. His pictures helped make her one of the best-known models of her time. It is for readers who want to follow one photographer and one model over many years.
Ciao (Taschen, 2020). An oversized book about Italy, with a text by Alain Elkan. It has about 140 photographs never published before, in three chapters: In giro, Alla moda and Al mare. There are fashion shows, religious festivals in southern Italy, crowded beaches, men playing cards, and friends from fashion such as Valentino, Franca Sozzani and a young Monica Bellucci. It shows his lighter, more personal side.
