Eight years after major fashion brands and publications said they would no longer work with Terry Richardson, following a string of allegations of sexual misconduct made against the renowned fashion photographer, he now appears to be making a comeback.
This week, the magazine Arena Homme+ unveiled its latest issue, featuring two covers shot by Richardson and an accompanying portfolio. One cover consists of an image of a toilet cubicle graffitied with the text “Punk rock ruined my life.” Another is a shot of a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump’s face.
Entitled For David, from Terry, the images are billed as a tribute to the US film-maker David Lynch, who died in January.
The fashion and identity commentator Caryn Franklin describes Richardson’s return to newsstands as disappointing. “I am questioning why we would allow this man back to do more of the same, since there was no reckoning, no accountability and no apology from him,” she says.
Speaking to the Guardian over email, Ashley Heath, the owner and editorial director of Arena Homme+ and its sister title POP, said he wanted to make clear that “publishing this portfolio is in no way an attempt to rehabilitate Terry Richardson’s career as a commercial fashion photographer, as is being claimed.
“The work is in no respects ‘fashion’ … The magazine includes much content that is not fashion, and has done for more than 30 years. Terry Richardson’s portfolio is a powerful, personal tribute to the late David Lynch. No more, no less. I believe it is great work and is profound at this particular point in time on a number of levels. I would urge anyone to look at the entire portfolio, especially if David Lynch means anything to you. He is certainly a hero to us at Arena Homme+.”
At the height of his career, Richardson was one of the most successful fashion photographers in the world. He regularly shot for GQ and worked on advertising campaigns for brands including Gucci. He directed pop videos for Beyoncé and photographed Barack Obama on the eve of his 2012 re-election.
His work was known for its shock factor and regularly featured partially clothed or naked women, sometimes simulating or engaged in sexual acts. A 2004 book and exhibition entitled Terryworld included several images of models fellating the photographer, who garnered the nickname “Uncle Terry”. Richardson has always claimed his shoots were consensual.
Allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by Richardson first came to light in 2001. In 2010 the writer and podcaster Jamie Peck recalled a shoot with Richardson when she was 19 in which he pressured her into performing a sex act. Following Peck’s piece, many more women came forward alleging abuse. By 2017 he was dropped by Condé Nast, publisher of titles including British Vogue. Fashion houses such as Valentino also cut ties with him. In November 2023, he was accused of sexual assault in two lawsuits.
Fashion insiders say although Richardson has been blacklisted, he has continued working on various projects behind the scenes. Now he appears to be pivoting from private to public. In January, the Paris and LA-based brand Enfants Riches Déprimés released a campaign shot by Richardson alongside a photobook entitled Rats at the Ritz. Images include a woman handcuffed to a restraining bar.
Richardson’s images for the Arena Homme+ portfolio include a child standing on top of a jeep holding a gun, and a bolted door with the words “The world’s not safe anymore” carved into the wood.
Richardson’s return comes at a time when a succession of white men have been appointed creative directors at fashion houses. A report in 2024 highlighted that just 24% of power posts in fashion such as chief executive are held by women.
Sara Ziff, the founder of Model Alliance, an advocacy group for models in the US, says choosing Richardson over talented and ethical creatives, many of them women and people of colour, is “the old guard trying to generate controversy in an effort to maintain relevance”.
A spokesperson for Condé Nast said the group has “no plans to work with him”.
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Following a backlash online, Arena Homme+ turned off its comments. The stylist Jeanie Annan-Lewin says the decision by the magazine to work with Richardson and then to refuse to engage with readers suggests it doesn’t “care about women”. She says speaking out in the industry has repercussions: “I know that I won’t get work with those publications.”
Heath said: “The decision to publish was certainly not made lightly, I realised the portfolio is powerful in part because of Terry Richardson’s own journey. There is no cheap shock value intended, as has been claimed. That said, Lynch’s oeuvre does mine the dark underbelly of American life; sex, power, money and evil are all central concerns. The portfolio and magazine cover makes explicit reference to the ‘Spooky village’. This is Terry Richardson’s America, it is the wider world … and it is certainly social media.”
Franklin says the industry needs to become more politicised. Highlighting how the male gaze feeds into misogyny, she says: “This type of behaviour has been normalised by male photographers and brands who operate on the belief that sex sells. It’s girls and women every time that pay a price.”
Representatives for Richardson were approached by the Guardian for comment.
Richardson has previously denied all the allegations, saying that gritty, sexual imagery is simply part of his style, and that the stories are “hate-filled and libellous”.
“I collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work and, as is typical with any project, everyone signed releases,” he said in the same statement. “I have never used an offer of work or a threat of rebuke to coerce someone into something that they did not want to do.”
Richardson is not the only one instigating a soft relaunch. On Tuesday, the actor Kevin Spacey, who has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, was presented with a lifetime achievement award at Cannes.
