Fashion photographer Nacho Alegre's tribute to 30 years of Spanish Vogue

Barcelona-based fashion photographer, Nacho Alegre, is best known for his still lives. Whether it’s bathroom accessories, potatoes or sellotape, Nacho has a way of transforming mundane objects into striking, inventive sculptures. For his latest shoot, the Spanish photographer was asked to capture a series of images to mark the 30th anniversary of Spanish Vogue. Eugenia de la Torriente, Vogue España’s editor-in-chief, wanted Nacho to draw inspiration from the magazine’s first issue in 1988. “There was a very nice story that was loosely based on Spanish culture so we stuck to that,” Nacho, who is also the editor, founder and creative director of Apartamento magazine, tells It’s Nice That.

Artisan bread, red wine, vibrant matador capes and flamenco costumes are the centrepieces of the expertly executed tribute. “Vogue initially asked me to shoot a still life story but after I started working on the project it felt a bit limiting. So we built on the idea and expanded our concept a little bit. I wanted it to be a bit ‘Picasso’, in that I wanted to incorporate various elements that could refer to him such as bread wine and bulls,” Nacho discloses. By combining still lives with portrait photography, Nacho has created an authentic representation of key elements from Spanish culture while staying true to both Vogue’s aesthetic legacy and to his own signature style.

“I did this shoot in collaboration with Ana Dominguez, a friend and art director that also works with me and Omar my partner on the Apartamento still lives. I work regularly with Ana on shoots. But our professional approaches are quite different. She’s a designer, she plans. I am a photographer so I tend to improvise with the what I have available to me,” Nacho explains. “When we work together we tend to create drawings beforehand. It helps us visualise what we need to do. In this particular case, it was making the bread that was the main challenge. Ana worked closely with a bakery in Barcelona to be able to bake those giant loaves and the bullhead.” Breaded bull heads aside, Nacho and Ana have successfully produced a sweet and effortless series that pays respect to a magazine that has helped shape fashion for 30 years.