Katja Rahlwes


Katja Rahlwes is a German fashion photographer, based in Paris.

Biography

Katja Rahlwes left Germany at the age of 16 for London and then moved to Paris in 1988 to study fashion design at Studio Berçot, Paris.
In 1995-2004, Rahlwes set out for a career as a freelance fashion stylist.
She met Olivier Zahm and Elein Fleiss, co-founders and publishers of Purple Prose, later called Purple fashion, in 1996. Rahlwes has been collaborating with Purple ever since and took part of a new movement of visual language in the publication world.
In 1998-2001, Rahlwes became chief-fashion editor and photo-editor at BIBA, a major market fashion magazine in Paris.
Throughout those years she would live a parallel life as a professional stylist and part-time photographer. She said it was, “like having a husband and a lover.”
In 2003, she eventually chose photography over her styling career.

Commercial work

Her work can be seen in the magazines Vogue Paris, Vogue Nippon, Vogue US, Self Service,Interview, Purple fashion, i-D, Pin Up, BUTT Magazine, New York.
She have produced photographs for brands such as Gucci, Céline, Miu Miu, Chloé, A.P.C., Maison Martin Margiela, Levi's and others.

Exhibitions

UltraMegalore, Group exhibition curated by Hannelore Knuts
at Modemuseum Hasselt, Belgium, 2010
Black Beauty, curated by Vogue Paris
at Le Printemps,Paris,France, 2008
RxART, Benefit Auction
at Phillips de Pury & Company,
New York, USA, 2007
Maison Martin Margiela, Group exhibition,Paris,France, 2007
Concrete Castle,
Group Exhibition at Confort Moderne, Poitier, France, 2007
2001/2010:les années fatales, Group Exhibition for Céline & Libération Style, Paris, France, 2004
Indigestible Correctness, Group Exhibition at Participant Inc, New York, USA, 2004
Violence the True Way, Group Exhibition at Peter Kilchmann Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 2003

Books