A Brilliant epoch. Italian fashion of the 80s – Alberta Tiburzi

For the XII International Biennial of Moscow Fashion and Style in Photography 2021, the exhibition A Brilliant Epoch: Italian Fashion of the 80s was inaugurated, starring Alberta Tiburzi, one of the most important muses of Gian Paolo Barbieri.

“The Lady of Light is how I heard her called. The first time I met her was in Rome, for a campaign for Valentino. So elegantly light, I felt like I was painting with a camera. Alberta was immediately a muse for my creations; it was enough for me to observe her movements, accompany her with my eyes in her graceful dance, to represent her simple elegance of soul. Her modeling career was short but very intense: I remember ‘the thousand and one Albertas’ represented by the best photographers of the time—Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton…—but even more, I remember her courage. The audacity to undertake something that had always attracted her curiosity but that the times dictated as a difficult path, especially for a woman. Despite this, she pursued her dream, enhancing her bright colors and love for outdoor settings, skillfully using light through mirrors and reflective surfaces that revealed her revolutionary photographic eye. I began to see her work published in the major Italian magazines and international brands, and that was how we became colleagues.”

Gian Paolo Barbieri speaks about his dear friend and celebrates her with this contribution on the occasion of her exhibition in Moscow. The exhibition, on the one hand, traces the early period of her modeling career through a series of shots taken by important photographers, including Barbieri, and, on the other, tells the story of her work as a photographer.