The German photographer has delved into his personal archives for his collection with the skate label, which arrives this Friday
London skate label Palace has collaborated with Juergen Teller on a new collection, which is set to hit stores on Friday, 9 July. For the anticipated release, the irreverent German photographer has captured new imagery which focuses on creativity in the age of Covid-19, as well as delving into his personal archives to offer up some of his favourite and most widely loved photographs, which have been emblazoned across Palace’s skate apparel and boards.
Since his rise to acclaim in the early 1990s, Teller has blazed a trail in the realms of fashion and documentary photography with his instantly recognisable stark, ad-hoc style, and wry and uncompromising approach to his subjects. Whether capturing personal photo stories about family or Victoria Beckham in a huge shopping bag, Teller’s imagery always surprises and delights for its humour and humanity. “I try and photograph people as they are,” Teller once said of his practice. “I do not want to hide anything.”
The collection features a few images which are deeply personal to Teller. One of these is a 90s portrait of model and fashion icon Kristen McMenamy for Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, which marked Teller’s first use of his stripped-back style the context of fashion photography, and another is a 1990 shot of a frozen dead dog in a bin taken in Czechoslovakia, where Teller travelled on a soul-searching journey after his father’s death.
Also featured are images imbued with trademark-Teller humour, such as a 2016 image of a stack of frogs from his plate series – the image-maker has a long-standing obsession with plates, perhaps partly because the crockery item translates as ‘teller’ in German – plus a bathing dog, a close up shot of cigarettes butts smoked by Norwegian literary titan Karl Ove Knausgard, and a self-portrait of the photographer holding a placard that reads “Football is our life”.
The collaboration includes collage works, too. One such creation sees compilation of personal artifacts printed across a hoodie, including a photograph styled by Juergen’s close friend and collaborator, the late Judy Blame, meanwhile another collage is taken from a new series of artworks created during lockdown, which are inspired by the events of the pandemic.
Palace x Juergen Teller is available from palaceskateboards.com, Palace Stores, and Dover Street Market from 9 July.