25 Famous Photos of Slim Aarons Depicting the Rich and Jet-Set

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Slim Aarons (born George Allen Aarons; October 29, 1916 – May 30, 2006) was an American photographer noted for his images of socialites, jet-setters and celebrities.

After the war, Aarons moved to California and began photographing celebrities. In California, he shot his most praised photo, Kings of Hollywood, a 1957 New’s Year’s Eve photograph depicting Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart relaxing at a bar in full formal wear. Aaron’s work appeared in Life, Town & Country, and Holiday magazines.

Aarons never used a stylist, or a makeup artist. He made his career out of what he called “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.” “I knew everyone,” he said in an interview with The (London) Independent in 2002. “They would invite me to one of their parties because they knew I wouldn’t hurt them. I was one of them.” In 1997, Mark Getty, the co-founder of Getty Images, visited Aarons in his home and bought Aarons’ entire archive.

niood lists the 25 Most Famous Photos of Slim Aarons Depicting the Rich and Famous:

1. Nelda Linsk (right), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, talks to her friend, Helen Dzo Dzo. They’re relaxing at a Palm Springs house designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar J. Kaufmann.

2. Sunbathers by a swimming pool at the Hotel Punta Tragara on the island of Capri.

3. Italian artist and actress Domiziana Giordano, Italian author Francesca Sanvitale, Dino Trappetti, and Umberto Terrelli enjoy a meal on terrace overlooking the coast of Capri.

4. Hollywood stars Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart enjoy at New Year’s party at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills.

5. Renata Boeck has breakfast in bed at the Regency Hotel in New York.

6. Socialite C.Z. Guest and her son Alexander Michael Douglas Dudley Guest by the pool on their Palm Beach estate, Villa Artemis.

7. Louis Armstrong digs into a plate of spaghetti in Rome.

8. Marie Chantal Miller, future wife of Prince Pavlos of Greece, strikes an extravagant pose above her sister Pia. The group is hanging out in pool of the Hotel Belair, Cap Ferrat, France.

9. A group enjoys some wine outside the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.

10. Baron Hubert von Pantz with two of his guests, Princess Johanna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and her daughter Countess Leonille Grafin Douglas, by the pool of his villa, El Rincon, in Marbella, Spain.

11. Polly Trott Hornburg in front of her father’s typical Bermudian house. She is wearing pants and a shirt that she designed herself.

12. Princess Bianca Hanau-Schaumburg spends time at her Gstaad chalet.

13. Donna Fabrizia Lanza di Mazzarino living her best life at the Villa Tasca in Sicily, Italy.

14. Three people sitting on a red Mercedes convertible watch a polo match, staged in front of the ruins of Cowdray House.

15. Winemaker Daniel Gainey and his wife out riding at their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona.

16. Carmen Alvarez plays a game of backgammon with Frank “Brandy” Brandstetter in a swimming pool in Acapulco.

17. Francine Brandt drinks from a coconut by a swimming pool in Acapulco, Mexico.

18. Sarah Marson Williams enjoys a cocktail on the beach at the Hilton Hotel at Needhams Point, Barbados.

19. Guests by the pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden–Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.

20. The Churchill family heir and his son Alexander Michael Douglas Dudley, photographed with their dogs in front of the Greco-Roman pool in Villa Artemis, Florida.