In 1966, the Women’s Wear Daily photographer Sal Traina was walking on West 57th Street in New York when he scored the mother of all celebrity sightings: Greta Garbo, long retired from the public eye, in the flesh.
Traina, like all WWD staffers in those days, knew to “bring home the bacon,” as John Fairchild used to admonish the newsroom. So he sprung into action, aimed his camera and got Garbo, who just happened to be holding over her face a copy of that day’s Women’s Wear.
The image has since become part of the lore of the paper’s photography archives, a steady chronicle of high fashion and society in all its glory and comedy from 1910 to the present day. It’s partly that rich history that led to an agreement earlier this year granting the photo agency Shutterstock exclusive rights to the archives of PMC’s properties, including WWD and the century-old trade Variety.
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On Wednesday, a group of designers — Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli of Calvin Klein Collection; Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony; Thom Browne; Tim Coppens, and Robert Geller — and nightlife fixtures — Joe Jonas, Gigi Hadid, Leigh Lezark — were on hand at Little Park at the Smyth Hotel in Lower Manhattan for a ceremonial christening of the partnership.
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Staring back from Samsung tablets dotting the walls were famous front pages from over the years, for instance, everything from the “Paradise Lost” headline after the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. to the more recent covers of the first weekly issue featuring several top designers.
The past wasn’t in the minds of those present — not all, anyway. The New York collections weren’t even a day old yet, but regulars of the party circuit were already plotting on the best practices for getting photographers’ attention while out and about and perhaps becoming the subject of a picture as candid as Garbo’s.
Zucchelli had something of an upbeat outlook on the subject: “Sometimes it happens naturally, sometimes it’s a little more produced, but you have to show you’re having fun.”
Meanwhile, Lezark, who’s been on the posing end of many a party picture, discussed her game plan without missing a beat.
“Take the party pictures early before it’s too hot,” she said, “and you get a little tipsy.”