Fra «Muschelserien» / From the “Shell series”, 1979

Regina Relang began working for Vogue in 1938, and became one of the leading German fashion photographers in the fifties and sixties. Relang's spectacular photographs from fashion shoots at the haute couture presentations in Paris were featured twice a year in all of the major fashion magazines in Germany. Not only do her photographs document the changing fashions of Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, and Yves Saint-Laurent, they also trace the transformation of the image of woman in the mid-twentieth century. Regina Relang studied painting at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart and the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst Berlin (1928 – 32), became friends with fashion photographer Willy Maywald and moved to Paris in 1932. The self-taught photographer soon sold her first travel photos; collaboration in the darkroom with Robert Capa; travel and fashion reportage in southern Europe for Vogue and Die Dame. After World War II, she did features for Madame, Constanze, Quick, and Annabella. Her work was distributed by major international agencies including Magnum Photos Inc., New York.