Miles Aldridge, the son of legendary art director and illustrator Alan Aldridge, was born in London in 1964. Alan Aldridge was a key figure in the psychedelic aesthetic of the 1960s. He designed numerous posters and album covers for bands such as The Who, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, and later for Elton John. Following in his father's footsteps, Miles first studied illustration at Central Saint Martins College in London. After graduating, he spent some time directing music videos before embarking on a career as a fashion photographer in the mid-1990s. A pivotal moment in his career came when he met Franca Sozzani, then editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia. This encounter developed into a decades-long collaboration, about which Miles Aldridge says today: “She was the Pope and I was Michelangelo, commissioned by her to paint the ceiling of Vogue Italia. Without her patronage I wouldn’t have been the artist I am today because she gave me a carte blanche.”
His passion for film, particularly the work of directors such as David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock, and Federico Fellini, as well as his obsession with colors, is evident in all of his work. He is one of the few photographers who still shoots on film rather than digitally. He first sketches his image idea for an image, designs the set, and uses Polaroids to visualize how he will implement his idea - all before the camera even comes into play. Nothing is left to chance - everything is meticulously planned and executed.
© 2025, Birgit Filzmaier