Michel Haddi, the legendary French-Algerian fashion photographer, is a big believer in the importance of first impressions. “A great picture cannot be done while you are shooting it,” he explains. “It happens just before, when you meet the person, when you shake hands, or whatever.” Haddi believes that the trick to capturing a star with their guard down is all in the first meeting, that the feeling they get upon first facing you determines their demeanour for the rest of the shoot, no matter how long. 

To back this up, Haddi is able to list off numerous examples of memorable first encounters which played a crucial role in his work with stars like Sean Connery, Roger Federer, Tupac Shakur, Naomi Campbell and Patti LaBelle. And judging by the truly striking images he has snapped of them all, it would seem his theory checks out.

The only thing as remarkable as Haddi’s portfolio is his back story. By the age of six, he found himself living in a French orphanage, idling his time by leafing through the pages of Vogue which fascinated him. After growing up, he eventually established a photography studio in London before catching the eye of Vogue Italia, who invited him to join its in-house team. From there he went on to shoot global campaigns for various fashion houses including Yves Saint Laurent, Pucci, Armani and Guerlain, as well as maintaining a prolific career as an editorial photographer.

Haddi is now in the midst of a major career retrospective, comprising two consecutive solo shows entitled Michel Haddi: Beyond Fashion at Milan’s esteemed 29 Arts In Progress gallery, the first of which is currently on view. To mark this celebration of his illustrious career, he recently sat down with AnOther to regale the stories behind some of his most iconic images and their famous subjects.

Heath Ledger

“This was done during a movie called The Four Feathers. I used to have an apartment in Paris and I got a call asking me to go down to Morocco, all the way in the desert, for a magazine called Premiere, which was one of the best movie magazines in the world at the time. They had budget galore, so they were able to afford me to go all the way to the desert.

It was a 50 million dollar budget movie. When I got there I saw a friend of mine, [the actor] Djimon Hounsou. If you look very carefully at the picture of Heath, he’s got a lot of sunburn on his face. One hour before I saw him doing a tech, running in the desert because his character just escaped jail. He looked filthy. I started to photograph and he turns and looks at me and said ‘Get the fuck out of my face’. So I said fine, fine, fine, fine. Later I’m walking around the trailers and I see this amazing-looking kid. He looks at me and smiled and I took a couple of shots. After my friend says to me, ‘Do you know that guy is Heath Ledger?’ So I go to him and I apologise for what happened before. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I was just so into the movie’. What I like about that picture is the fact that he’s extremely serious, he looks like a young Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now.”

Gwyneth Paltrow

“I got a phone call from Vanity Fair saying there is this new actress called Gwyneth Paltrow. It was around the time of Shakespeare In Love I think. I couldn’t spell her name. So I looked at this young girl coming into my studio, and I photographed her in Prada. I wanted her to look like a kind of 1950s icon, like one of those Hitchcock girls. Cold as ice, you know? Vanity Fair did not like the picture. They didn’t use it. At the time, Vanity Fair thought they knew better than everybody and they didn’t like the fact that the image was very European. Back then, they wanted to have very American photography, which was not really my gig. Later she made the movie The Talented Mr Ripley and she’s styled exactly like this! I think she found me eccentric, amusing and very French! She nailed it.”

Cameron Diaz

“I used to have my studio in Venice Beach in California where I photographed many people. One day, Vogue Paris asked me to do the new pack of new actors in Hollywood, people like Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, and so forth. Cameron was already a big player. Before she arrived, a messenger came with a big bouquet of flowers – they was from her boyfriend at the time, Matt Dillon. She came dressed in that T-shirt and I said, ‘Oh, darling, just keep it’. And why have the bottle of water? I don’t know why, but I liked it. I like the fact that she’s looking at me. ‘Our pussy, our choice’ – this is back in the 1990s, you have to understand women in Hollywood didn’t have as much power as they have now. This was still the era of the casting couch, you know? She’s very easy to photograph. She’s able to be very funny and sexy and strong and powerful. She was a model before, of course, so she knew what to do, we didn’t have to talk much. Afterwards, we photographed her in all Chanel.“

Kate Moss

“Kate, I’ve known for many years. I first met her when she came to my house one day because our mutual friend, the stylist Kim Bowen, suggested she come see me. I was shooting an actress, who I’ll refer to simply as Lolita, at my house in Hollywood and she came to show me her book. I tried to explain to her ‘Darling, I’m working, the actress is gonna be totally pissed off’. Anyway, I said to her, ‘Why don’t you go by the pool, have a swim, do whatever’. Now the actress is looking at this beautiful girl on our shoot, swimming around. The day after I got stick from her PR, asking how could I have done that? I said ‘Come on, man, she’s only 17, she came from England to see me. Tell Lolita to chill.’

I went back to New York and got a phone call from an agent about a big campaign for Bloomingdale’s, it was going to be all over America. The casting director said there’s this new girl in town who just did Calvin Klein and she is going to be a big star. Her name is Kate Moss. I burst out laughing and said ‘Don’t worry, I know Kate. You don’t have to show me her book.’ So I worked with her and she’s absolutely spectacular, even though she’s small. After the campaign dropped, the head of GQ asked me to do a story on Kate in New York. So I said yes, and that’s where this photo came from. She did remind me of the Little Mermaid of Copenhagen.”

Kylie Minogue

“John Hind, then creative director of British Vogue called me and said, listen, there is a very big star from Australia and we want you to do a story with her. John was an extremely elegant, eccentric gay, and a very close friend of mine before he died. He suggested I check out a place in Soho called The Raymond Revue Bar, the UK’s first ever strip club. It was really sleazy, but I thought it could be nice if she was styled in Mugler. So I said, let’s go for it. We had a very good time. She’s fun, very funny and professional. She knew exactly what she wanted and what she didn’t want to wear. She was exquisite and perfect. She looks like a 1960s sexy kitten here, like Ann-Margret or Angie Dickinson.

Outside, there were about 20 paparazzi waiting because they heard that she was shooting for Vogue there, so she was a bit worried. I said, ‘Darling, don’t worry, I’m gonna do something, it’s gonna work like magic’. So I went outside and I saw them all waiting. And I said, ‘Guys, you are making a big mistake. She’s not here. She’s gonna come out the staff exit’. I said, I’m only a doorman, you know, but if I was you, I would hide behind those two huge garbage bins. Make sure that you cover yourself very well and just wait.’ So they all run down an alley to hide. ‘In 20 minutes, I will do a snap to let you know she’s coming out, so get ready for it!’ I said. They were a bunch of jerks. And then she just left out the front and nobody was there.”

Janet Jackson

“I worked a lot with Tupac around the time he was working with Janet in Poetic Justice and I had wanted to work with her ever since. I previously worked with Aretha Franklin for British Vogue, and the makeup artist became a good friend of mine. I worked with her photographing many African American artists, like Patti LaBelle. I wanted to do a special project with Janet for the launch of a magazine called Sly N’Chic. She used the same make-up artist so she knew about my work, and knew I was a good guy and respectful so it came about naturally. When I arrived the make-up artist jumped in my arms and gave me a lot of kisses which Janet saw so I think that made her feel like she was among friends and in a comfort zone. She was fabulous. I wanted to give her a little men’s edge. She loved everything that we had in mind. In some of the other pictures she wears a wedding dress. The house is my lawyer’s house in California.”

The first part of Michel Haddi: Beyond Fashion is on show at 29 Arts In Progress gallery in Milan until December 22. The second part will open on 16 January 2024.