Terry-Richardson-

Photo Credit: Terry Richardson

Terry Richardson, the famous American photographer is a controversial figure in fashion photography because of his extremely provocative attitudes towards sexual ideas images and in his professional work environment. Richardson, who seems to see himself as an heir to both Helmut Newton and Andy Warhol, has said in the past, about his work with models, “A lot of it starts with me saying to a girl, ‘Do you want to do nudes?’ And they’re like, ‘I don’t want to be naked,'” Richardson told the Observer in 2004, “So I say, ‘ I’ll be naked and you take the pictures. You can have the camera. You can have the phallus.'”

This is a man who once said of breaking in to the modeling industry, “It’s not who you know, it’s who you blow. I don’t have a hole in my jeans for nothing.” Many young models have accused him of sexual harrassment. Some of the stories are really shocking, like being told to give him hand jobs.

Given the power differential that exists between Richardson, who is old, wealthy, regarded as an artist, and vastly influential, and most of his model subjects, can the consent of these women even be said to be freely given? Richardson is a guy who publishes books with Taschen, hangs out with celebrities, and photographs the President. Supermodel Rie Rasmussen gave a furious tongue-lashing to Terry Richardson at a Paris fashion event and accused him of exploiting young models. “He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of. They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves. “His ‘look’ is girls who appear underage, abused, look like heroin addicts . . . I don’t understand how anyone works with him.”Rasmussen said: “I told him what you do is completely degrading to women. I hope you know you only

[bleep] girls because you have a camera, lots of fashion contacts and get your pictures in Vogue. “Instead of arguing with me, Terry ran out of the bar. Then the next day, he called my agency and complained I called him names in front of clients in Paris. It was the most cowardly thing I have ever seen.” Terry Richardson makes us want to barf and we think that responsible people in the fashion industry including magazines, modeling agencies, and brands should avoid working with him!!!!!