Dorothy and Light Outline

In this 1962 image series, William Klein blends sharp fashion with expressive light in a now-classic Vogue photoshoot. His work is on show at Photo London, Somerset House, 18–21 May. All images: William Klein/Courtesy HackelBury Fine Art, London

Dorothy and Light Face

Klein was born in New York in 1928, and settled in France after being stationed there during the second world war

Dorothy and Light Dog

He studied at the Sorbonne – Fernand Léger was one of his teachers – and developed an interest in both abstract art and photography

Dorothy Arguing with Dorothy and Lights

He made abstract paintings, but then also photographed them in motion, creating another level of abstraction

Dorothy Shooting Light from Hip

‘Somebody turned one of the panels when I was shooting on a long exposure, and when I developed the photographs this already abstract shape was a beautiful blur,’ he remembered in a 2012 Guardian interview. ‘That blur was a revelation. I thought, here’s a way of talking about life. Through photography, you can really talk about what you see around you’

Dorothy and Light Newspaper

These methods collided in his work for Vogue. ‘Those were double exposures,’ Klein says, explaining this particular series. ‘First, I would shoot the model. She then held the pose and we turned off all the lights in the studio. In a second exposure, lasting a few seconds, an assistant would use a flashlight to draw shapes in the air around the model’s body’

Dorothy Juggling White Light Balls

The model is Vogue favourite Dorothy McGowan, whom Klein would go on to cast in his satirical feature film about the fashion industry, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?

Dorothy + Light Coat

‘Dorothy was a street kid from Brooklyn,’ Klein says. ‘She could improvise, she always knew the frame I was using, and fitted into anything’

Dorothy Blowing Light Smoke Rings

‘Maggoo’, for her part, said that many were intimidated by Klein: ‘People were terrified of him, as though it was the lion’s den’

Dorothy and Light Numbers

Klein is also known for his street photography – his instinctive and unpolished images of New York in the 1950s were hugely influential, and he followed that series with portraits of Rome, Moscow and Tokyo

Dorothy and White Light Stripes

‘I wasn’t part of any movement,’ Klein told the Guardian in 2012. ‘I was working alone, following my instinct. I had no real respect for good technique because I didn’t know what it was’

Dorothy and Big White Circle

Now 89, Klein is still working – he has created an 18-metre mural of his images for the Photo London festival this week