Gia Carangi (January 29, 1960 – November 18, 1986) was one of the first supermodels, rising to fame in the late 1970s and continuing into the early 1980s before her career declined due to struggles with drug addiction.
By the early 1980s, Gia was still modeling but began missing shoots and appointments due to heroin addiction. Some of her last major work included campaigns for Versace, Armani, and editorials in Vogue and Cosmopolitan. She appeared in Francesco Scavullo’s photographs for Cosmopolitan, including a famous 1982 cover.
In 1981–82, photographers like Arthur Elgort and Denis Piel shot her for some of her final fashion editorials. As her addiction worsened, she was replaced by the new wave of supermodels like Cindy Crawford (who was even nicknamed “Baby Gia” due to her resemblance to Carangi).
“I am pleased that my photographs can be identified beyond their style for their special vision,” said photographer Aldo Fallai. He took models and made them pose in gardens, streets, anywhere as long as it was real, with the captivation of dream landscapes, flaunting a lifestyle that is desirable but also possible. “While creating fashion images, I take a sort of ‘freedom’ as advertising is thought to sell, but I’m there, within the photo. That scene has to be just like this, because it’s something useful, but it also tells a moment of life. And I want images to have both of these features.”
Playing with roles and situations, Aldo Fallai reconstructed a world that goes beyond the garment to portray an entire society and a generation. A world in which people always counted enormously. He photographs a woman, with her character, her personality, even her age. He allows her to move, to do, to act. He watches for the emergence of some little imperfection that rips the veil of an imaginary perfection. Here, some stunning portraits of Gia Carangi taken by Aldo Fallai in the early 1980s:
