She was the muse of Karl Lagerfeld and Helmut Newton, one of the most photographed pairs of legs of the 1990s. Thirty years later, Nadja Auermann reappears before the lens of British photographer Rankin for the Fall/Winter 2026 campaign of Ports 1961, around an idea as simple as it is demanding: movement as an inner state rather than as a gesture.
First presented at the runway show last February, the collaboration between Nadja Auermann and Ports 1961 is confirmed and unfolds with this FW26 campaign, as the next chapter of a creative dialogue begun earlier in the year. The house, founded in 1961 by the Canadian entrepreneur Luke Tanabe and now based in Milan’s Brera district, with flagships in Milan, Hong Kong and Shanghai, has built its identity on architectural silhouettes, considered construction and a pared-back approach to luxury. Bringing back an icon of the 1990s to embody it is never a neutral choice: it is a bet on the visual memory of a generation, transposed to a contemporary wardrobe.
For Nadja Auermann is not one face among others. A German model turned legend, famous for her endless legs as much as for her magnetism, she has walked for Chanel, Versace and Dior, and posed for the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. A longtime muse of Karl Lagerfeld and Helmut Newton, she has worked with some of the most influential photographers of her generation — Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier — helping to define an entire era of fashion.
Facing her, another name of weight: Rankin, British photographer, editor and director, who in 1990 co-founded the cult magazine Dazed & Confused alongside Jefferson Hack. Known for uncompromising editorial imagery, he has made campaigns for Rolls-Royce, Unilever, L’Oréal, Lego and Samsonite, photographed the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and Zendaya, and immortalised King Charles III for his seventy-fifth birthday. His meeting with Auermann is therefore not that of two talents discovering each other, but of two trajectories recognising each other.
At the heart of this campaign lies a concept that goes beyond simple art direction: movement, interpreted beyond its purely physical dimension. Here it becomes an emotional and psychological force, which shapes presence, attitude and identity rather than describing a gesture. Through a performative approach, Nadja Auermann turns movement into a state of being rather than an action, capturing the tension between stillness and dynamism that defines the collection. One question remains, open like the gaze she directs at the lens: what does this need to summon the icons of yesterday to embody what, precisely, refuses to stand still say about contemporary luxury?
Also on Luxsure: Ports 1961, Spring Summer 2014, Milan · Ports 1961 Menswear Autumn/Winter 2013/2014
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