Norman Parkinson's fashion photography in Turin. How has fashion transformed over the decades?

From March 22 to June 29, 2025 Palazzo Falletti di Barolo in Turin will host the exhibition Norman Parkinson. Always in Fashion, sponsored by Ares, Terra Esplêndida and Iconic Images. The exhibition, curated by Terence Pepper, curator of London’s National Portrait Gallery for more than four decades, celebrates the celebrated British fashion photographer whose innovative style shaped the aesthetics of haute couture for more than fifty years.

The eighty works on display trace the milestones of Parkinson’s career, from his early experiences in the 1930s through the 1980s, capturing the transformations of fashion through the decades: from 1930s Britain to the austere fashions of World War II, from the Parisian New Look of the 1950s to the Swinging London of the 1960s, and the glamour and glitz of the 1970s and 1980s.

Among the exhibition’s highlights is the photographer’s revolutionary and innovative approach, which took models from the static environments of photo studios to the dynamism of the real world, often setting his shots in everyday or exotic locations. This innovative style quickly attracted collaborations with magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Town & Country, establishing Parkinson internationally.

Emblematic works, such as the 1939 shot of Pamela Minchin on the Isle of Wight beach, marked his career and photographic vision. In the 1940s and 1950s, during his long association with Vogue, Parkinson introduced narrative elements into his shots, such as in the famous 1949 Young Velvets, which depicts four models wearing hats against the backdrop of New York City skyscrapers, and he immortalized icons such as Audrey Hepburn in 1955 in an iconic shot for Glamour at Villa Rolli in Italy, on a farm in the Colli Albani of Cecchina, during the filming of King Vidor’s War and Peace. The actress wears a stunning Givenchy afternoon cocktail dress from his spring summer 1955 collection.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Parkinson managed to reinvent her style by keeping up with the new generation of photographers and models, expressions of a new way of life, and by initiating new collaborations, particularly with The Queen magazine with which she elevated young models such as Jerry Hall and Iman to superstardom. In parallel, he portrayed celebrities such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and world-renowned designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Hubert de Givenchy, Jean Muir, and Zandra Rhodes.

The 1980s sealed his career with the award of the title of Commander of the British Empire by the Queen of England and a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in London, which further consecrated his role as a pioneer of fashion photography.

Norman Parkinson's fashion photography in Turin. How has fashion transformed over the decades?

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