While some commercial and editorial clients are distancing themselves from Terry Richardson, others are celebrating their relationship with the photographer-slash-sexual harasser. Playboy magazine plans to release a 100-page special issue shot by their “great partner” Richardson called California Dreamin’ in February of next year. (Images NSFW.)
On Friday, Richardson teased a tease of the spread in Playboy‘s July/August 2014 issue on his blog, which says it’s supposed to come out in September. When asked for details about the issue, a spokeswoman emailed Jezebel the following:
Yes, Terry has shot for the magazine many times over the years, and has been a great partner. His latest collaboration with Playboy is a 100-page special edition of the magazine titled California Dreamin’ in which he photographed four Playmates in a variety of iconic California locations from Joshua Tree to the Chateau Marmont. This special edition is actually set to hit newsstands around Valentine’s Day 2015. Playboy‘s July/August 2014 issue (on newsstands now) features a 6-page preview of California Dreamin’, and the magazine plans to run additional previews of California Dreamin’ in its December 2014 and January/February 2015 issues.
When asked why the issue would no longer be released in September, the spokeswoman said that the production schedule had changed. “We are releasing our annual Playmate calendar in September, and have a few additional projects in the pipeline which are scheduled for release around the same time. Instead of competing with ourselves on the newsstands, we decided to push publication of California Dreamin’ to early 2015.”
A request for comment about the choice to pursue this partnership with Richardson at this particular moment – especially given the recent decisions by some of Richardson’s clients not to work with him – was not answered.
Playboy has worked with Richardson before; he most recently shot the 2014 Diesel calendar that came with their Kate Moss 60th anniversary issue, posting behind the scenes photos of their offices on his blog from that shoot last August. He was also responsible for a 2009 cover of the magazine.
In a blurb in the July/August issue, Richardson is described as a “legendary fashion photographer”:
Terry Richardson has photographed hundreds of the world’s most beautiful women (Kate Upton, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus among them). And now you can add Playmates Audrey Aleen Allen, Alyssa Arce, Pamela Horton and Jaclyn Swedberg to that lovely list. Here’s an exclusive preview of our upcoming special edition of California Dreamin’, in which we turn Richardson and the Playmates loose in iconic southern California locations, from Joshua Tree to the Chateau Marmont. The results are by turns sub-dappled, sassy, langurous and, most of all, revealing in the very best way. Look for the complete 100-page special edition on newsstands in all its dreamy glory starting September 2.
Allen has posted shots of the photos on her Instagram and Twitter accounts and Richardson put nude photos of Arce on his blog in October after he worked with her for the French men’s magazine Lui. “Love this shot from @terryrichardsonstudio,” Arce wrote about a close-up of her tongue from that issue with the words “Alyssa Par Terry Richardson” (Alyssa by Terry Richardson) pasted across it.
Images via Terry Richardson/Playboy