OBITUARY | IN PICTURES

Melvin Sokolsky obituary

Surrealist fashion photographer best known for capturing models in ‘bubbles’ around Paris

Arguably Melvin Sokolsky’s best-known work featured the model Simone D’Aillencourt drifting through Paris in a Plexiglas orb
Arguably Melvin Sokolsky’s best-known work featured the model Simone D’Aillencourt drifting through Paris in a Plexiglas orb
The Times

The teenage model dubbed the “Face of ’66” in the British press was on her first visit to America and Melvin Sokolsky was the photographer tasked with capturing images that would add to Twiggy’s burgeoning international reputation.

For the 1967 shoot, Sokolsky, a Manhattanite renowned for his “bubble” series of models floating above Paris, decided to snap Twiggy at a variety of locations in New York.

One site on a street was thronged with pedestrians and Sokolsky grew frustrated at the interruptions when they wandered into view. He retreated to his studio and devised a plan.

Sokolsky with D’Aillencourt in 1960. The photographer’s first bubble shoot in Paris featured the model
Sokolsky with D’Aillencourt in 1960. The photographer’s first bubble shoot in Paris featured the model

Taking a few black and white headshots of Twiggy, he printed them and cut around the face to make masks. Returning to the streets, he handed the masks out