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Re:Frame Fashion
Re:Frame Fashion
Enrique Badulescu
April 21, 2025
In this era of fast fashion, renowned fashion photographer Enrique Badulescu is sending out an important message against fashion’s throwaway mentality, with his exhibition re:Frame. In his pictures, discarded clothes and packaging materials pile up into mountains of fabric and rubbish, empty plastic bottles are upcycled into sweeping skirts, and oil canisters cover the face of the model and Campaign Creative Director, Marina Testino.
Inspired by the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the landscape is defined by the ecological impact of overconsumption, Badulescu and Testino question the open-ended nature of an enormous branch of industry. The clearly composed studio photographs, taken with a Leica S3 and a Leica Q3, include typical elements of Badulescu’s imagery, like his masterful use of strong colours and expressive shapes. “My work has always been about vitality – colours that energise, images that make you want more. But what happens when that desire is endless? Re:Frame is my way of throwing that question back at itself,” the photographer explains. “The images are bold, beautiful and full of life; yet they reveal a deeper truth about the impact of fashion. This time, there is nothing to consume – only a change of perspective.”
After pulling back and taking some time out from his career, Badulescu’s exhibition at the Leica Gallery in New York marks his return to the world of photography, and emphasises the years of collaboration between the photographer and the Leica brand. He remains faithful to his style and effortlessly creates a link to topics that are of relevance today.
Badulescu knows the fashion industry and has worked for brands such as YSL, Hermès and H&M, numerous magazines, and with celebrities including Kate Moss, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones. Marina Testino is no stranger to the industry either: she uses social media to draw attention to the dark side of consumerism, and is involved in numerous activist initiatives to promote greater awareness and a more sustainable fashion world. Fashion is about expression, rather than excess, she emphasises.
Pauline KnappschneiderInspired by the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the landscape is defined by the ecological impact of overconsumption, Badulescu and Testino question the open-ended nature of an enormous branch of industry. The clearly composed studio photographs, taken with a Leica S3 and a Leica Q3, include typical elements of Badulescu’s imagery, like his masterful use of strong colours and expressive shapes. “My work has always been about vitality – colours that energise, images that make you want more. But what happens when that desire is endless? Re:Frame is my way of throwing that question back at itself,” the photographer explains. “The images are bold, beautiful and full of life; yet they reveal a deeper truth about the impact of fashion. This time, there is nothing to consume – only a change of perspective.”
After pulling back and taking some time out from his career, Badulescu’s exhibition at the Leica Gallery in New York marks his return to the world of photography, and emphasises the years of collaboration between the photographer and the Leica brand. He remains faithful to his style and effortlessly creates a link to topics that are of relevance today.
Badulescu knows the fashion industry and has worked for brands such as YSL, Hermès and H&M, numerous magazines, and with celebrities including Kate Moss, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones. Marina Testino is no stranger to the industry either: she uses social media to draw attention to the dark side of consumerism, and is involved in numerous activist initiatives to promote greater awareness and a more sustainable fashion world. Fashion is about expression, rather than excess, she emphasises.
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Enrique Badulescu
Enrique Badulescu+-
Son of a Rumanian photographer and a Mexican mother, Enrique Badulescu was born in Mexico City in the 1960s. He grew up in a vibrant culture scene, heavily influenced by surrealism. He returned to Mexico after graduating from the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie program in Munich and traveled extensively around the country, later moving to New York City where he started working as an assistant for fashion photographers. In 1988 he moved to London, where his career took off as a travel and fashion photographer. His work includes portraits for groups like Rolling Stones, Soul 2 Soul, Nenneh Cherry and The Jungle Brothers, among others. In 1992 he returned to New York City and regularly visits Tulum, to the turquoise waters of the Mexican Caribbean, which he uses as a frequent backdrop for shoots with French Vogue, Harpers Bazaar or H&M. In 2008 Badulescu published his first book Sueños, followed by a solo exhibition in June 2010 at the Milk Gallery in New York. More
