Newsstand Junkies: Photography, Fashion, and Magazine Culture in 1990s New York
with Dietmar Busse, Phyllis Leibowitz, and Jeppe Ugelvig
Géza, 306 Maujer
In the early 1990s, following the success of his debut story, Dietmar Busse’s photographs quickly became a fixture of New York City’s fashion newsstands. Subsequent commissions included a notable feature for Paper magazine. Shortly thereafter, Busse began contributing to The New York Times Magazine, signed with an agent, and expanded his practice to encompass portraiture and fashion editorials for various publications, all distributed via the city’s network of newsstands in sidewalk booths, storefronts, and subway stations across the city. Amant’s current exhibition Dietmar Busse: Fairytales 1991-1999 presents a curated selection of Busse’s formative work from this period.
On the occasion of Dietmar Busse’s exhibition, this roundtable conversation with Phyllis Leibowitz and Jeppe Ugelvig will address the fashion scene of New York in the 1990s, the work of fashion photographers during the analogue era of photography and its connection to fashion advertising from myriad angles. In particular, the panel will consider the pre-9/11 downtown scene of art and fashion hybridity, with the turn of the millennium seemingly being a crucial cut-off point to a productive period.
Dietmar Busse is an artist based in New York. His work has appeared in magazines such as The New York Times magazine, Paper magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Interview, Elle, The London Independent and Spanish Vogue. He has developed campaigns for Matsuda and documented runway shows for Bernadette Corporation, among many others. Recent exhibitions include the solo show Garten at Fierman (2023) and Labor of Love at Rachel Uffner Gallery (2023), both in New York. Dietmar’s second monograph Songs for Birds and the Lonely was released by Palermo Publishing in September 2024.
Phyllis Leibowitz is a fashion stylist, designer and photographer in NYC. She began her career working in film production with legendary photographer Bruce Weber, then launched her career as a fashion stylist of photo shoots and music videos. As a commercial stylist Phyllis has contributed to magazines including Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Italian Vogue; styled advertising for Coca-Cola, Estée Lauder, and Reebok; worked with record labels Sony Music, Atlantic Records, Interscope Records, Geffen Records, Universal Music Group; and styled performers including Sydney Sweeney, Liev Schreiber, Debra Messing, Marisa Tomei, Lou Reed, Isabella Rossellini, Tracy Morgan, Metallica, Def Leppard, The Roots, Emmylou Harris, Kate Winslett, Kirsten Dunst, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Gus Birney, Gina Gershon, Elizabeth McGovern, and Robert De Niro. As a photographer, her work has been published in Paper Magazine, Black Book, Entertainment Weekly, The Source, and Surface. As a personal stylist, Phyllis currently works with select private clients to develop their individual style and shop for new wardrobes. Her clientele includes finance, tech and media executives, creative entrepreneurs, and VIP guests at The Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, and Crosby Street hotels.
Jeppe Ugelvig is a curator, historian, and cultural critic based in New York City. He is a current Ph.D. candidate at UC Santa Cruz, where his research focuses on artistic responses to consumerism in the global 20th century. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Viscose, a journal for fashion criticism and analysis. His first book Fashion Work: 25 Years of Art in Fashion was published by Damiani in 2020.