Bold-Faced

What is it about Polaroids that makes them so enduringly endearing? How do those white-bordered, air-dried little squares endow the fuzzy faces inside with such glammy glow? Is it the intimacy, the immediacy, the DIY vibe? Any way you blow on it, Ezra Petronio taps into the magic with Bold & Beautiful (7L/Steidl, $60), a new book of Polaroid portraits of the creatives who've entered the sphere of Self Service, the pioneering Paris-based fashion-and-arts magazine he founded ten years ago. The New York native estimates he's clicked the shutter of his original 1970's Polaroid camera 12,000 times, always against a stark background and using up, he guesses, most of the vintage flash cubes left in the world. "The more the years go by," he tells Hint, "the more pleasure people will have from seeing these portraits, as they are a distilled form of social documentation." Here, Petronio picks out his most memorable sessions.

(clockwise from top) Donna Karan, Isabelle Adjani, Sarah Mower

Donna Karan
"In the spa room of her penthouse on Central Park West. It was just after a Vanity Fair shoot with Annie Leibovitz. Each image was preceded by a yoga move and taking in of harmonious breath."

Vivienne Westwood
"Three hours backstage waiting, two and a half minutes with her, four shots. The only white background was in the toilet, meaning toilet use for everyone was blocked by the set-up for two hours. I was forced to sit on the throne to take the images."

Tom Ford
"I was flown to London first class, put up in five-star hotel and given chauffeur-driven car in order to facilitate the image."

(clockwise from top left) Tracy Emin, Hilary Alexander, Serena Rees, Andrée Putman

Tracy Emin
"She showed up with [artist] Ron Wood and a large and ready-for-partying entourage who ended up staying the night."

(clockwise from top left) Marc Ascoli, Ingrid Sischy, Thaddaeus Ropac, Gianfranco Ferré

Ingrid Sischy
"In her home, where the only white wall was in her laundry room. She was in between the washer and dryer."

Gianfranco Ferré
"Two hours backstage waiting in a completely empty room, one minute with him, one shot. He refused to sit down for the picture and left before the Polaroid was opened."

Helmut Lang
"He would only allow his own team to take the picture. I was obliged to send the camera and film for his use."

Louise Bourgeois
"Spent at least one hour in the atelier with her assistant taking down old relics from the walls in order to create a white background for the image."

Diane von Furstenberg
"Taken in the only available space in her apartment, under the original Warhol Polaroid taken thirty years earlier."

Source: Hint Magazine