Veruschka was no ordinary ’60s model; a German countess, she could be anything from Greta Garbo to a leopard in a tree. Now, at 66, she is still an inspiration.
Announcing herself (”Here I am”) at the studio of the David Bailey-esque photographer (played by David Hemmings) barefoot and in a black mini-dress, she proceeded to seduce the photographer’s lens by writhing on the floor like a wildcat, while he sat astride her, snapping furiously.“She moves like nobody on earth,” Hemmings sighed afterwards.
In real life her photo shoots were no less extraordinary; US Vogue editor Diana Vreeland would give Veruschka carte blanche to conceive fashion stories with her then lover, the Italian photographer Franco Rubartelli.
The leotard-clad Veruschka and Rubartelli would jump on a plane together, taking all the clothes, body paint and photographic equipment they needed to the middle of a desert, or to some snowy wasteland against which Veruschka would throw her lean body into contorted shapes. They once traveled to the Bahamian island Eleuthera on Christmas Day to take photographs by moonlight. Read the full story
