Biography
Joe McKenna is regarded as one of the most influential stylists working today. He is the former fashion director-at-large at The New York Times’ T Magazine and his Calvin Klein and CK campaigns would come to define the era photographically.
McKenna’s aesthetic is one of stark elegance and balanced, considered proportions and simplicity that belies the prodigious talent necessary to create it. McKenna has contributed to US Vogue, French Vogue, V, Vanity Fair, W, The Face, Homme +, Love, Self Service, Rolling Stone and i-D. In recent years, McKenna has styled campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Z Zegna, Miu Miu, Jil Sander , Giorgio Armani , Balmain and Chloe.
McKenna published the first issue of his own publication, Joe’s, in 1992, featuring Miuccia Prada and photo shoots by David Sims , Craig McDean and Steven Klein . “All the photographers I knew wanted to have a space where they would have no restrictions. It was very easy back then.“ A second issue was published in 1998 — both have become collector’s items and are regularly held up as some of the most creative, raw and progressive fashion photography of the period.
In 2017, McKenna released his first film: a 25-minute documentary feature on Azzedine Alaïa.