It was by pure luck that the fashion photographer Johnny Moncada has rediscovered an old archive remained abandoned with tens of thousands of unpublished shots. These include a series of photo shoots starring a very young Gottliebe Anna Vera von Lehndorff – Steinort who, a few years later , would become the icon Veruschka .
This incredible testimony about the birth of the myth of the 60s is now enclosed in Veruschka : From Vera to Veruschka , a volume published by Rizzoli New York, which encloses a selection of the best shots of Moncada , including images from the archive found and others that appeared in Harper’s Bazaar UK , between 1963 and ’64 .
A number of interesting examples on fashion and glamour of ‘dolce vita,’ a key moment that saw the birth of some big names in couture. In Moncada’s shots you can see the models wearing creations by Antonelli , Irene Galitzine , Tricò , Frederick Forquet , Valentino and a newcomer Lancetti.
The book, edited by the daughter of the photographer , art historian and curator Valentina Moncada and with the layout of Antonio Monfreda , is enriched with the introduction by Franca Sozzani , Hamish Bowles and Massimo Di Forti as well as the words of the same Verushka.
A great opportunity to discover the birth of an icon that signed a place in fashion’s history.