Paris-based fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh is renowned for his black-and-white images that take their inspiration from early German cinema and 1920s “free dance,” which were prominent at a time of prosperity and cultural dynamism. It is not incongruent, then, that in celebration of Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen’s launch of their luxurious Portofino midsize collection, longtime collaborator Lindbergh has photographed an impressive list of actors and models against the inspiring backdrop of Portofino, an Italian fishing village known for its idyllic setting, for the exhibition “Timeless Portofino.”
The photo shoot began at the legendary Belmond Hotel Splendido with IWC’s “Friends of the Brand” Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, Ewan McGregor, and Christoph Waltz, who, over several days, sipped espresso at local cafés and walked the Portofino village streets allowing Lindbergh to capture the ideal shots. They wear watches from the new IWC collection that, in contrast to the timeless setting, have a contemporary design that CEO George Kern describes as a “play with contrasts, blurring the borderlines between masculinity and femininity.” Significantly, all the models—male and female—wear tuxedos. Blanchett comments, “Wearing a tuxedo changes the way one faces the world. Although I loved portraying the dolce vita of the 1950s and 1960s during the Portofino photo shoot in 2010, I think this year’s experience with Peter Lindbergh was filled with more chic, more intensity, and more passion.”
Image courtesy IWC Schaffhausen
IWC launches “Timeless Portofino” at a private event at the W South Beach’s restaurant the Dutch, followed by a poolside after-party, cosponsored by IWC Schaffhausen and DuJour magazine, that will no doubt feature its fair share of celebrity friends.
Image courtesy IWC Schaffhausen
This article was previously published in Whitewaller.
