For some, Bert Stern’s Jewels exhibit is a nostalgic journey; for others, a place to look at shiny things

For some, Bert Stern’s Jewels exhibit is a nostalgic journey; for others, a place to look at shiny things

Bert Stern was a noted fashion photographer when Nigel Barker was still in diapers, and his work—including his shot of Marilyn Monroe’s final sitting—is now on display for all of Toronto to see at Yorkville’s Izzy Gallery from June 16 to July 9. He photographed icons like Twiggy, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn for Vogue throughout the 1960s, but he’s best known for his series of photographs of Monroe, commissioned by Vogue in 1962 (just six weeks before she died). But for those interested in checking out the show before the show, we have a sneak peek of the bedazzling in a gallery after the jump.

He recreated the Monroe series with nothing-like-the-original Lindsay Lohan for the cover of New York magazine in 2008, and now his photographs of fashion icons—Lohan not included—are travelling around North America. “Jewels by Bert Stern” will embellish the shutterbug’s work with crystals; it sounds like a Bedazzler project gone wrong, but Stern claims this process is meant to “enrich” the work. Toronto’s show is second only to a stint at the Staley-Wise Gallery in New York City’s Soho, but here’s a cocktail party tip: when someone asks, “Did you see the art exhibit in from New York?” chances are they’re probably talking about the AGO’s abstract expressionists.