Works by fetish and celebrity photographer (and Libidex collaborator) Bob Carlos Clarke have been presented to the National Portrait Gallery in London by the Bob Carlos Clarke Foundation.

The 10 portraits include subjects such as celebrity chef Marco Pierre White; a tousle-headed Rachael Weisz (another Libidex fan); Stones member Ronnie Wood reflecting on (and in) his guitar; an open-topped Mick Jagger photographed during performance at The Marquee in 1971; and an almost baby-faced study of Elton John.  

Before his suicide in 2006, Bob collaborated with Libidex’s Simon Rose on a number of projects, famously shooting our Goddess Catsuit as a chocoholic, decadently spilling a glassful of molten chocolate, which seems a favourite Carlos Clarke motif (Bob once considered shooting the model for his picture ‘Sticky Fingers’ dripping with chocolate, but finally settled on molasses).

Simon was in the midst of planning a photo shoot with Bob when he heard of Bob’s death. “It was a great shock at the time, but I decided to go ahead and finish the shoot in the style that Bob and I had planned, with Emma Delves-Brougton behind the lens”, says Simon. “The results can be seen in some of the pictures on our website. It was, in a way, his last work – at any rate, it was greatly inspired by him.”

For more info see The Libidex Story

Photos: Emma Delves-Broughton

More pics available here

Credit: Bob Carlos Clarke / National Portrait Gallery

Other Bob Carlos Clarke works featuring Libidex garments have included:

Vanessa Upton in a classic Matrix Catsuit:

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Caprice also in a classic Matrix Catsuit:

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And the late Paula Yates (wife of Bob Geldof):

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