erotica

Bettina Rheims' $1,000 Erotic Odyssey in a Bespoke Briefcase

Filed under: Art, Books

Famed French photographer Bettina Rheims' newest book is much more than that – it's "equal parts erotica, fashion shoot, art monograph, metaphysical mystery, social and cultural archaeology of the French capital, and neo-noir arthouse film", and comes complete in a bespoke briefcase. The limited edition work, Rose, C'est Paris, produced by Rheims and Serge Bramly, is priced at $1,000 and comes in a retro attaché case featuring "souvenirs" of the curious tale within: a rose, a mask, an Eiffel Towel statuette, a booklet, a DVD, and of course the photo book itself. A number of celebrities make cameos including including Naomi Campbell, Michelle Yeoh, Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Rampling, and Azzedine Alaia, in "a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish, and seething desire." Of course there's quite a lot of nudity.

Tags: Azzedine Alaïa, Bettina Rheims, coffee table books, DVD, erotica, France, movie, Naomi Campbell, Paris, photographer, photography

The Cheekiest Book of the Year

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Books

Luxist readers last heard of famed Scottish photographer Rankin when his bespoke bottle for The Macallan single malt Scotch debuted. Now the shutterbug has released a new volume of edgy erotica appropriately titled Rankin's Cheeky.

The book features a foreword by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and an introduction by Heidi Klum, who has shed her clothes for the photographer's skillful erotic studies on a number of occasions. "I'm never shy with Rankin," Klum says.

Kate Moss has also been snapped by the master in her birthday suit many times; some of the images are featured in the book. "Any time Rankin takes a picture he knows what he wants, and there is really no chance of being anyone but who you are, even if you try," she notes. "You can trust him. I trust him."

Tags: erotica, Heidi Klum, HeidiKlum, Hugh Hefner, HughHefner, Kate Moss, KateMoss, nude, photography, Playboy, Rankin, Scotland, sex, supermodel

Stefan May: Women Only

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Books

The other day we wrote about some of Helmut Newton's work being offered at auction. Sadly, Newton died in 2004, but a few photographers are carrying on in his spirit of fashion-meets-fine art-meets-erotica. Chief among them is German lensman Stefan May, who has a brilliant, lavish new monograph coming out from teNeues on June 15 titled Women Only. The book, available for pre-order from Amazon, cements May's place as the master of the sensual nude. The collection combines duotone and color images in an imaginative assortment, and the "contrast between photographic modes helps the reader fully appreciate form and texture, as well as interplays of light and shadow." It's also damned hot.

Tags: erotica, Helmut Newton, HelmutNewton, models, nude, photography, sex, Stefan May, StefanMay, teNeues