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She's photographed Kate Moss, shot a Chloe campaign for Stella McCartney, had her work featured in British and French Vogue, and has many i-D, Nylon and V Magazine shoots in her portfolio. Yes, Vanina Sorrenti is one cool and talented woman making her mark on the fashion world.
Her whimsical and feminine photography caught the eye of Elle Macpherson, who commissioned her to be the first female photographer to shoot a campaign for her lingerie line, that Macpherson herself hasn't starred in. The results are a unique combination of Macpherson's vision of sensuality and Sorrenti's signature poetic aesthetic.
Photography seemed a natural career path for Sorrenti, who was born in Naples but raised in New York within a family of talented photographers. Her mother is renowned photographer Francesca Sorrenti, and both brothers, Mario and the late Davide, are photographers as well (Mario is especially known for his nude spreads in Vogue, Harpers, Bazaar and W, and shot a previous Elle Macpherson Intimates campaign in 2004.) "I grew up going to photo shoots with my mum, playing with cameras, and with a dark room in our house, so it was a natural field to get into," Sorrenti says from her New York home.
Sorrenti shot two campaigns for Elle Macpherson Intimates and Boudoir in New York earlier this year, with Macpherson herself directing both the shoots.
"She was great _ she really knew what she wanted, she was very on to it," says Sorrenti in an accentuated New York drawl.
The Intimates mainline campaign, called "The Mirror", features pictures of a lingerie-clad woman reflected in a round mirror: a private moment captured on film. And while the premise may seem a little voyeuristic, Sorrenti's images are understated and sensual rather than outright pervy.
Arty black and white shots feature in the campaign for the higher-end Elle Macpherson Intimates Boudoir range, with a woman captured in a grassy night garden by a flash of light. The images perfectly capture Sorrenti's signature soft ethereal style, as well as her penchant for shooting the female form.
"It's all about finding harmony and beauty in unexpected places," she says, before breaking into melodic Italian to talk to her daughter.
Sorrenti says each shoot has its merits for different reasons and therefore she finds it difficult to single one out, but admits the Elle MacPherson campaign was one of the best shoots she's been on. "Everyone had their own ideas, and it was just a great creative environment."
