#PerfectDiaries: Lady Gaga, Bella Hadid and more feature in Alexandra Arnold’s favourite backstage moments.

New Orleans-born photographer Alexandra Arnold was destined to bring beauty to life. After moving to New York and boasting a five year stint at Marc Jacobs, Alexandra saw her fair share of opulence, and since then, has maintained a close relationship with the esteemed American fashion house.

Her ability to capture those delicate, candid moments is unrivalled and can be attributed to her personable approach to taking photographs. Backstage at fashion shows can be a cutthroat place, with photographers often ending up with the same shot, but Alexandra Arnold uses charm and likability to go that extra mile to get that ‘money shot’, so to say.

Lady Gaga at Marc Jacobs AW16.

“This was my first runway show in NYC. I had no idea she was walking in the show until I arrived backstage. Since I was shooting in house, I asked to quickly take her photo and she kindly agreed. I was able to capture two photos in the short amount of time, one of her looking down, and the other at me. Out of everything I have shot over the years, I still feel this is one of the most captivating photos I have ever taken.”

Lily Nova at Marc Jacobs SS19.

“After all show attendees left the Park Avenue Armory, I snuck into the show area where a bunch of models were hanging out on the runway to be photographed for the campaign. I saw Lily standing along the glass wall and wanted to capture her in the most ethereal way.”

Bella Hadid at Marc Jacobs AW20.

“Due to the many dancers’ rehearsals before the show, I found myself in a corner with Bella. After forging a friendship over the years, we decided to play around with the time at hand, shooting until show time. We created a ton of incredible images that take you straight back to the 1950s.”

Alek Wek at Marc Jacobs SS20.

“Alek is a LIGHT. To me, this photo is the perfect representation of the pure joy she is inside and out.”

Karen Elson at Tomo Koizumi AW19.

“This was originally an accidental over exposed image. There was something about it that I kept coming back to; I played with a few edits and found that this cropped version was the most impactful and angelic. It also constantly reminded me of the Avedon portrait of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face.”

Line Brems at Area AW20.

“Whenever I am photographing backstage at shows, I love to create images that don’t look like they’re taken minutes before showtime, but have a planned out, editorial feel.”

Stephen Jones at Marc Jacobs AW20.

“I’m always astonished to see the magic Stephen creates for Marc’s runway collections year after year. After this show ended, I was walking back to the editing room, turned the corner and stumbled into Stephen, holding one of his gorgeous showpieces that had just debuted. I had only 2 exposures left on my roll of film and knew I had to capture this special moment.”

Ariel Nicholson at Tomo Koizumi SS20.

“While photographing Ariel’s performance piece for Tomo’s new collection, I knew I wanted to create unique, double exposures that were done in camera, in the moment. Every double exposure shot is either a dud or a unique, unexpected surprise.”

Dara Allen at Proenza Schouler AW22.

“I love everything about this image — the mysterious silhouette, the peak of her ear-earring and the repetitive triangular shapes from the shape of the stole to the position of her hands
on her waist. There’s such a mystery to who she is and where she is going.”

Sarah Abney at Marc Jacobs AW18.

“I had roughly 5 minutes to capture as much content as I could after sneaking back in post-show. After working many shows with the same array of models, the relationships created allow you to have a more casual approach to capturing them in a short period of time, this being one of them.”