LOS ANGELES — For some photographers, the lure of the camera is the buffer it can provide between themselves and the world.
So it is for Mario Testino, who confesses he still finds it strange when he’s the focus of the flashbulbs instead of the other way around. That’s surely the type of reception he’ll get this Sunday, when he and the late Herb Ritts receive the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award for their contributions to the merging worlds of entertainment and fashion.
In addition to a street party hosted by Anjelica Huston and Anna Wintour, the honor comes with a brass plaque embedded in the sidewalk and a maquette-like 14-foot nude “Torso” standing at Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way, by sculptor (and Huston’s husband) Robert Graham. More than 50 photographs by both men will also be featured in an exhibition on Rodeo Drive and in the Beverly Hills Golden Triangle through May 1.
“It’s a really odd thing,” Testino remarked late Wednesday, fresh from an eight-day stay in Rio de Janeiro. He was on location there with French Vogue editor in chief Carine Roitfield, shooting for the magazine’s upcoming Brazil issue. “When I started, I think, ‘This is good. l’ll be behind the scenes.’ Now, it’s a very strange thing to know that something will be in the sidewalk for many, many years to come.”
Like Ritts, who died of complications from pneumonia in late 2002, Testino’s iconic imagery has become part of the visual lexicon of the last two decades. Their work encompasses distinctive portraits of legendary figures and fashion campaigns that have become advertising hallmarks.
The first recipient of the Walk of Style award was Giorgio Armani, in 2003. He was followed by Tom Ford last year. The committee’s decision to go with photographers this year reflects the increasing symbiosis of celebrity and fashion, a theme central to the work of both artists.
While Testino’s work has an of-the-moment quality that appears almost like an effortless snapshot, Ritts’ revealing photographs ushered in a contemporary reflection of the black-and-white portraits of Golden-era Hollywood. His music videos for Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears also had a cinematic quality. Ritts, in fact, celebrated the ocean, desert and surreality of growing up in Southern California throughout his career.
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“You could see it in the water in so much of his work, even the sense of flow,” his mother, Shirley Ritts, said Thursday from her Brentwood, Calif., home, recalling the family’s life in Malibu and summers on Catalina Island. Among her countless favorites of her first-born son’s work: one of a young Kim Basinger.
“His work jumped off the page at me and that’s how I reacted to it. I would always call him and he would respond, ‘Really Mom, you like it?’ Like it was his first job every time. He had a lot of humility.”
Cameron Diaz will present Testino’s award, while Patrick Swayze will give Shirley Ritts her son’s award.