If you like photographs of celebrities that express their personalities in loving ways, this volume is a must for you!

This volume contains a few nude and topless female photographs that are artfully and tastefully done.

Francesco Scavullo created the images that most of us carry around with us that "define" the celebrities that have made an impression on us. These images are greatly enhanced in this volume by brief captions in which Mr. Scavullo shares his verbal perspective on the model. For example, about Diana Vreeland, he says, "Allure personified." His way with words is as good as his way with the camera. Louise Nevelson (one of the subjects of this volume) called his work "the poetic essence of his subject." In doing this, he "filters out visual cliches." In fact, he changed the images of many of his subjects (do you remember the glamor portrait of Martha Mitchell on the cover of New York Magazine?). He has been fascinated that "you could make people attractive."

Mr. Scavullo has an obvious love for people that carries from one thoughtful portrait to the next. He captures a liveliness that most people only feel a few times a year, yet that spark exists in almost all of these images. It's enough to get you to jump up out of your seat and kick your heels in the air!

The book's essay is also candid about Mr. Scavullo's experiences with manic depression, and his joy in doing his photography while in the manic state. Many of his downs are described as "nervous breakdowns" and certainly give a greater poignancy to these bouyant views.

There is also a brief chronology of his career that will put events in perspective for you.

The book is a blockbuster of outstanding images. I could have listed dozens as my favorites from these great black and white and color photographs. Here are a few selections to whet your appetite for the real thing:

Sophia Loren, 1973

Catherine Deneueve, 1970 (1st one)

Elizabeth Taylor, 1977

Oprah Winfrey, 1994

Maria Shriver, 1986

Louise Nevelson, 1981

Christopher Reeve, 1977

Dick Cavett, 1978

Salvador Dali, 1973

Gore Vidal, 1975

Andy Warhol, 1983

Samantha Jones, 1969

Iman, 1989

Lauren Hutton, 1975, 1973

Rene Russo, 1974 (2nd image)

Ingemore, 1968

Maria Badeau, 1970

Brooke Shields, 1983, 1991

Pauline Trigere, 1977

Linda Evangelista, 1990

Claudia Schiffer, 1989

Elizabeth Hurley, 1995

Julie Andrews, 1994

Bee Gees, 1977

Gene Simmons, 1979

Isabella Rossellini, 1986

What thought does it take for you to come alive as these people do? Notice that they seem younger, less guarded, and more confident and comfortable. That makes them more appealing.

Be your most attractive to inspire you . . . and everyone else!

Francesco Scavullo has a gift, there's no question about that. His pictures are so full of life it's hard to believe they are frozen on paper. He also offers candid insights into some of his subjects which only add to the photo's charm. This book has something in it for everyone. It's a purchase you won't regret making if you have even the most remote interest in photography.

I collect and read photography books. This one I got as a Christmas present, and it's super. Whether you're into celebrities or just great photography, this book covers it all. I also like his reasoning and history behind some of the people he photographed. A great book to have in any collection.

This is a great book which arrived in excellent condition. I am looking forward to spending time reading and enjoying the photos as well as the text...

As a fan of the 70s and early 80s fashion I found this book to be beautiful. The women capture the look of that era and I was as interested to read about the lasting beauties (Brook Shields, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen, Farrah Fawcett, Princess Caroline of Monaco) as I was about the stars whose celebrity glow has faded today.

The photos are beautiful. 46 women: models, housewives, journalists, actresses, business women, singers, schoolgirls, they all pose and tell their beauty secrets. There is a before and after make-up shot, with some photos showing and describing the stages in between. Some women are heavily made up while others go for the natural look. Their interviews are as compelling as their photographs. They describe how they perceive beauty, or they criticize it. They reveal their beauty secrets ("I cleanse with yogurt and soap and water. I use a natural unscented moisturizer...I like any kind of cream I can get from the health food store"-Beverly Johnson, "Working up a sweat every day. And going to the sauna. And getting laid once a night"-Janice Dickinson)

As excited as I was to see these beauties and read about their habits, I'm not sure whether a teenager would make out the difference between the girls that lead helthy lives and the ones that don't. Comments such as "I eat next to nothing" or "I never take off my makeup. NEVER. I sleep in it." or "I never look at myself in the mirror" do not promote a healthy lifestyle in my opinion and they are the reason so many young girls today have anorexia, bulimia and self-esteem problems.

But anyway. Fashion can be like that sometimes. To conclude, my favourite photos and interviews were by:

GIA
PATTI HANSEN
CARMEN
JANICE DICKINSON
ORIANA FALLACI
ANNE HEARST
AILEEN MEHLE
POLLY MELLEN
JIL SANDER
BROOKE SHIELDS
LISA VALE

But the most important thing is that what's trully beautiful about these women is their individuality. If we all find what looks good on us and what makes us happy and healthy, we could all make it to the next Scavullo book! Buy it. Enjoy it.

This book has fabulous photos of quite an interesting mix of models, celebrities, socialites, and jet-setters of the 1970s. But the true gems of this book aren't the photos (which, in classic Scavullo tradition are brilliant!); its the commentary. There are some great one liners as these women are interviewed on their beauty secrets. For instance : Jeri Hall "I try not to do drugs too often"...The campy nature of the lives of those in Vogue and Town and Country in this over-the-top decade are captured in this book. Get it if you can!

How can this possibly be among the photobook bestsellers? The book is so freaking tiny one could mistake it for one of those "boyzone/a-teens 2001 school pocket calendar" thingys. How could someone agree in publishing a photographic book in this format? This is a skinny (pocket)book too. Thin, poor printing and awfully boring. I hold this as one of the worst nude photography books I have ever come across. Not one interesting page. Not even technically. Nothing stands out...

Before discussing this book, let me mention that most parents will feel this book is not appropriate for children. Although the nudes are modestly and tastefully done, these images would be "R" rated in the movie theater.

Francesco Scavullo is best known for his portraits and fashion photography. He is one of the best known photographers to emerge in those fields around the time that Richard Avedon was becoming popular. His nudes reflect that strength in the sense that his portrait and fashion-style poses work best. In many cases, the poser's nudity is limited to seeing a neckline and shoulders unencumbered by the distraction of a line of clothing. For that reason, many of these images don't really seem like nudes at all.

This book suffers from three serious problems. First, the page size is extremely small. As a result, the photographs are never very large and sometimes are almost microscopic, when combined into a series over two facing pages. You lose a lot of the effect that way. It's like trying to look at fashion and portraits in Reader's Digest size. The editors made up for this by doing a very fine job of selecting photographs that look awfully good for such small reproduction sizes.

Second, there simply are not that many images in the book. To get a fully satisfying flavor of Mr. Scavullo's work would have required at least twice as many. I do not know if this is because there were few outstanding nudes to choose from, or on account of limits imposed by the publisher to keep the price down. If there were not that many high quality nudes available, a better solution would have been to have included fully-clothed shots of similar posings to put the nudes into a context.

Third, the work comes across as much too glossy and healthy looking to be real. Despite the claims in the introduction that Mr. Scavullo's strength in these images was to see the "real" person rather than an idealized person, I found most of the images looking much too shiny and vibrant to be anything other than an idealization. The work clearly is designed to be flattering to the poser, as well. There's just a little too much "appeal" put into the shots, like a Las Vegas neon sign. Where humor was put into the images, I found it usually didn't work for me.

On the positive side, seldom do I see a book where I like as high a percentage of the photographs as I do in this one. So the editors deserve a kudo.

Impressive also was that a nude photograph of Mr. Scavullo appears with his biography. He felt that he should not ask others to do what he had not.

So, I gave the book back one star for these positives, raising it from a two star to a three star rating.

Even if you do not buy the book, I hope you will have an opportunity to see it and form your own opinions of these photographs. This book presents many opportunities for refining your taste in photography.

Here are my favorite images in the order in which they appear:

Jay Johnson, 1969 (head and shoulders version)

Helmut Berger, 1969 (head version)

David Sabedru, 1991

Kate Mulder, 1992 (eyes downward version)

Dana Patrick, 1990

Cindy Crawford, 1990

Linda Evangelista, 1990 (series of head shots from behind)

Claudia Schiffer, 1992

Naomi Campbell, 1989 and 1990

Margaux Hemingway, 1975

Brooke Shields (color), 1991

Wale, 1993 (series)

Sterling St. Jacques, (1978) (See if you can do this pose!)

Sandy Spener and Karla Wolfangle (color), 1971

Hiram Keller, 1969

I suggest an exercise in visual image-making for you to follow on from what you have seen in this book. Begin with a bare table. Then begin adding still life elements until it seems the most "real" to you. As you add the elements, feel free to change the compositions to learn what causes you to see a more "real" scene. Make some notes of what you learn, and take photographs that you can attach to the notes.

Then come back to this book about two weeks later, and see how you would have changed the posings, the make-up, and lighting of these images to have made them more "real" for you.

Seek truth, as well as beauty. Otherwise, you will always be overwhelmed by the sheen of attractiveness . . . and miss the beauty that comes from stark openness.

I admit I'm not a fan of Scavullo, but I like to think that I have an appreciation of the work. There are some tremendous images here, but overall there is just something missing. It's difficult to pinpoint, but there is very little emotion that I felt coming from these shots. I've seen more of his work that actually moved me. None of these had that effect. It's not bad and from a technical standpoint it's okay. However, I was expecting more than that.