BIG BREAK: One of Alejandra Guerrero’s spreads in Taschen’s The New Erotic Photography Vol 2 (ed Dian Hanson), the 2012 anthology that helped win international acclaim for her work
Alejandra’s admiration for Helmut N
Helmut Newton is a favourite of fetish people for the kinky influences he brought to mainstream fashion and celebrity photography. But for the same reason he was never exactly feminism’s favourite photographer.
While his women were frequently dominant glamazons bristling with power and authority, he was accused of appropriating fashion to shoot glossy male porn fantasies that “real” women could not relate to.
Has that ever been a problem for Alejandra in her enjoyment of his work, or in the narrative scenarios she herself shoots that evoke that style?
“I’m very much a fan of Newton,” she says. “How could I not be? He was such an amazing photographer! Maybe being such a prominent photographer, as Newton was in his time, and shooting such provocative scenes, was going to bring him a lot of attention both positive and negative?
“I’m aware, from my own work, how some people might see and understand it for what it is … and some other people will judge and think of it as something scandalous!
BOOK 4, 2013: The Mammoth Book of Erotic Photography Vol 4, ed by Maxim Jakubowsky
“There are always segments of conservative people who, based on their beliefs, make projections about things they find obscene. I feel that accusing him of shooting ‘glossy male porn fantasies’ is narrow-minded.
“It’s hard, perhaps, for some people to differentiate erotic art from its more crude opposite — pornography. This has never been a problem for me in enjoying his work, and I’m a feminist!
“I’ve never been offended by what I’ve seen in his photos. There is other stuff out there that I’ve seen and get more of a sense of misogyny from. But that’s why you keep up the battle to educate people, and go against the censors.
“I’m also OK with not pleasing everybody, otherwise I should’ve done landscape photography. Nothing there to offend!”
Bob Carlos Clarke and Pierre Molinier
What about other photographic influences? I recall that Guerrero was also a fan of Bob Carlos Clarke, but also wonder which female photographers have made the most impression on her.
“I felt very sad when I heard about Bob Carlos Clarke’s passing in 2006,” she confides. “I remember being shocked by it because I found his work to be so fascinating and original, without knowing much about him personally.
“I felt like, why would someone so talented depart the world in such a tragic way? But behind all that great art there was a lot of turmoil, I guess? He left a mark on so many, and definitely influenced me and many others.
Another notable photographer — though from a different era — who engaged Alejandra was Pierre Molinier (1900-1976) , the French surrealist celebrated in fetish circles for his sadomasochistic transvestite self-portraiture.
“I find his work to be so enigmatic and gripping, maybe because I adore surrealism, so the combination with fetish erotica speaks to my creative mind.
Ellen von Unwerth and more women
“But speaking of women, there are so many that have made an artistic mark on me. I love Ellen von Unwerth. Her work is so playful, provocative, stylish and fun. I met her some years ago and she was just as lovely in person.
“Bettina Rheims’ photos are full of allure. She can go from an amazing fashion image to a nude one so seamlessly.
“I love the sincerity in Dian Arbus’ work. She made people look intriguing; you wonder as much about them as you do the woman who captured them in such a manner.
“In my earlier self-portraits I remember looking a lot at Cindy Sherman’s early work. There was something so captivating in her Untitled Film Stills series.
“Nan Goldin’s work also interested me because of the rawness of her characters. You felt like a voyeur transported into the lives and dramas of the people in her photos.”
And what about the current crop of top commercial fashion photographers, who seem to so enjoy shooting fetish fashion on celebrity models for top magazines like V, Numero and Vogue?
“Steven Meisel, Mert and Marcus, Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Steven Klein have definintely all had an influence on me. I collect magazines, and as a fashion lover — which is mostly the reason I buy them — their work has been in my mental library of influences ever since I can remember.
“Actually that’s how I got interested in photography in the first place, poring over fashion magazines in my teenage years in the ‘90s. I’d pin photos I liked into collages and sometimes used them in paintings.”
BOOK 5, 2016: Taschen’s Lesbians for Men, edited by Dian Hanson
Latex as luxury fashion for celebrities
This brings us fairly seamlessly on to what, as a fetish and fashion fan, Alejandra Guerrero thinks of the way latex has become, at its top end, luxury fashion-wear for celebrities.
Does she think the recent fondness for ‘celebs in latex’ imagery has helped to promote public acceptability of fetish — and latex specifically? And how does she feel about where fetish fashion sits in today’s culture?
“I have mixed emotions on this matter,” she says. “I like that the fashion world has taken an interest in latex and incorporated it into the mainstream language of fashion, making it more acceptable to the general public and also using it in such a creative way.
“Just look at the last collection Anthony Vaccarello did for Saint Laurent, AW 2020/21. There is so much latex in it! But his take on it was to make it look a part of a more bourgeois ensemble. You have latex skirts and pants, paired with pussy bow blouses, blazers, fur coats. It’s very postmodern.
“Thierry Mugler did this in the ’90s so perfectly. He mixed latex with suits and made amazing full-on fetish fashion, with corsets and latex ensembles as part of haute couture.
“But what is happening now, with it becoming part of the ‘celebrities’ luxe wardrobe’… I’m afraid it could become derivative and cheap.
“You’ll have all these copycats ripping well-known latex designers off, and because people are so enamoured by celebrities and influencers, they don’t care about what it represents or where they get it from.
“They just want the look, minus its true essence. And so it reminds me a bit of the world of fast fashion, where it loses its lustre and becomes mass-consumed and produced.”
Are there any latex designers she’d love to work with? Her answer is to nominate two designers who, by chance, are both based in London.
“I’d love to work with Atsuko Kudo. I’ve shot some models in her designs but it’s nothing like actually collaborating together. I also like William Wilde’s work; his designs are very akin to my aesthetic.”
Qualities Guerrero seeks in her models
From designers, then, to models. What qualities does she look for in models to help bring her visual fantasies to life?
“At first a good photo of a model will capture my attention, so after seeing that I tend to browse through their portfolios to see what others have done and the potential for them fitting with my vision.
“For me, specific qualities I look for vary greatly by project. It’s not like one size fits all because narratives should have characters that feel like they perfectly fit in, just like a casting director picks a character for a movie or a show.
“Having a strong look is very important, but the attitude and personality of a model carries through in a photo and I find that to be relevant as well.
“For my most important projects I prefer meeting people in person to get a better sense of them, and if I feel like we’d get along well working together.
“Generally, the more I know and get along with my models, the better the results will come through in photos. Which is why I tend to work with some of the same models again and again.”
And is there anyone she would particularly like to shoot with?
“I’d love to shoot with Dita Von Teese. I have a lot of admiration for her as a model, a woman, an entrepreneur and an icon. She has crafted an amazing career, carefully keeping on brand with her image.
“I can imagine doing something delightful and chic with her. She has impeccable style, which is of great inspiration!”
Models are, of course, at the very centre of Wicked Women, and I ask Alejandra what the experience of finally being able to put together her first monograph was like, from inception to publication.
Wicked Women’s roots in site revamp
“The story of Wicked Women started in 2018,” she reveals, “when I had redesigned my website more thematically and wanted to name the page that contained all of my fetish photography something more unique.
“So I came up with calling that section Wicked Women. Then when I met David Jenkins, my editor at Circa Press, in NYC that year, I was showing him work that I thought would make a good book. And the one that caught his attention the most was that section of my site.
“Since I had already gone through files selecting work for the site, the photos were more present in my mind. Then I just did a more extended search through my files for suitable candidates for the tentative book, and this came to almost 400 photos!
“As we started working on the actual book, David selected, at first, around 150 photos which we ended up going back and forth on, narrowing it all to a more cohesive and tight selection of 95.
“I agreed with David’s selections but I also had a big input on the order and on some photos that I strongly felt should be in the book.
“We both worked very well together and respected each other’s views on it, and it was exciting to see the work come together with the eye of someone with such great taste as David has.”
BOOK 6, 2017: Taschen’s The New Erotic Photography (compendium), ed Dian Hanson
This article’s first two galleries, at the bottom of Page 1, offer our selection of 20 Wicked Women images, shown exactly as they appear in the book’s pages.
Galleries 3 and 4 at the bottom of this page showcase further photography by Alejandra that doesn’t appear in the book. Gallery 3 is devoted to a 2020 latex shoot with Olivia Black, one of her regular models. Gallery 4 features a further selection of Guerrero’s models from other fetish shoots.
Publication of Wicked Women depended on its Kickstarter campaign, launched on February 19, reaching a target of £21,000 (approx €23,200 or $27,500) in 30 days. A minimum pledge of £50 was required to secure a signed copy.
If it’s your own campaign, it can be pretty nail-biting watching the pledges slowly increase and wondering if the project will cross the line. In the case of Wicked Women, arrival of the coronavirus didn’t exactly help matters.
From Kickstarter to coronavirus
“Yes, the Kickstarter was definitely an interesting experience — both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking seeing it grow,” the photographer agrees.
“At the beginning it was doing very well, then it hit a slump and we were on the clock for getting it funded. Then it picked up towards the end, but it felt as if it was almost not going to make it.
“I kept watching as the week when it was ending was also when all of the lockdowns started happening, with a lot of people starting to lose their jobs.
“Thankfully people pulled through! But I did get messages afterwards from people saying they wanted to pledge but they had lost their jobs and could no longer afford to spend money like that.
“It really humbled me to see all of the support and love of so many people towards my art. I’m just grateful that in such a weird and devastating time it got funded. It made a big dream I’ve had for a long time come true.
“I was supposed to travel to Italy at the end of March to get it printed, but then Italy went on lockdown. So we did long distance approvals and finally, when things re-opened there a few months later, it got printed.
“Then the other plan was to have a release party in London to promote it at the beginning of June which of course, with the covid crisis, got cancelled.
“I still hope, when things get back to some sort of normal, to maybe have a release event for it. For now, it’s a more memorable book because of how it came to be in such a strange moment in everyone’s lives.”
So, Wicked Women has now been printed, signed copies are going out to Kickstarter supporters, and the book officially went on sale in the UK on August 1, with US publication scheduled for early September.
Which means people can now decide for themselves whether it has achieved the aims the author set out for it.
This leaves me with just one more question: what can we expect from the next two volumes — Auto Erotica and Voyeur — in Circa’s promised Alejandra Guerrero erotica trilogy?
“People can continue to expect lots of sensuality and excitement in V2 and V3 of course,” she says. “But if I gave away too much, what would be the intrigue in that?”
Alejandra Guerrero/Corporate Vampire
Alejandra Guerrero/Instagram
Alejandra Guerrero/Facebook
Alejandra Guerrero/Twitter
Amazon UK/Buy-Wicked-Women
Circa Press/Wicked Women
Joe Ornelas/Instagram
TheFetishistas/Guerrero Kickstarter
TheFetishistas/Guerrero Trilogy News
BELOW: Two bonus Guerrero galleries: a latex shoot with Olivia Black, and a selection of other images.
CLICK/TAP on either preview below to open its gallery then click/tap any thumbnail to start slideshow
‘It really humbled me to see all of the support and love of so many people towards my art. I’m just grateful that in such a weird and devastating time it got funded. It made a big dream I’ve had for a long time come true’
Tags: Book Releases, Fetish Photography, Models
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