Richard Kern Knows Exactly What He’s Doing

Richard Kern photographs women the way someone looks at something they can’t stop thinking about—direct, a little predatory, entirely honest about it. His work has been running in VICE for years under the cover of fashion editorial, which is technically accurate and also completely beside the point, because the clothes are never really what’s happening. The framing is fashion. The content is desire, and he doesn’t pretend otherwise.

The Brazilian issue gave him an obvious excuse to shoot a series in hot weather with minimal clothing, and he took it without apology or irony. Model Bruna Haas is the one I kept coming back to—there’s something in how she holds the camera’s attention that some models manufacture with effort and she simply has. Kern noticed. The pictures noticed. So did I.

Outside it was close to forty degrees and the city felt like it was gently threatening to combust. Looking at these photos did not help with any of that. I recommend them anyway.