"Lucia Giacani is a woman who photographs women, capturing every aspect of them. Emotions, ambitions, and everyday life are immortalized by her lens and a feminine eye that knows what to look for and how to express the essence of an entire universe. A woman reflecting another woman: this is the intimate purpose of her work. Her gaze—naturally feminine and revolutionary—is the silent engine working behind every shot and through every flash" (Vogue.it, 2013).
Working from her studio in Milan, Lucia brings over fifteen years of experience in the field of fashion photography. Having moved to Milan with the goal of becoming a fashion photographer, she quickly developed a distinctive visual style and solid technical mastery through collaborations with various magazines. Following a series of assignments for Vanity Fair, Vogue Gioiello, and Vogue Pelle, her path led to a five-year collaboration with Vogue Italia and Vogue Accessory under the direction of the legendary Franca Sozzani.
A crucial moment in Lucia's work is the planning of each shot. A passionate sketch artist, she always prepares meticulously. Involving her team in the creative process and fostering a pleasant working atmosphere are essential elements for her to achieve the best results. These results are then perfected in the post-production phase at her studio, which "takes things to a higher level" (Trendland, 2013).
I believe I learned how to look before I even learned how to photograph. Certain obsessions are born early: the light that cuts through the darkness, the silence of a face, the invisible geometry of a scene. I grew up in Jesi, in a house where my father developed film and printed in black and white. The darkroom was my secret refuge, a place of magic and precision. As a child, I would enter on tiptoe, drawn to that dance of chemistry and shadows. It was there I understood that photography is not just technique; it is alchemy.
After my studies in Rome at the Higher Institute for Artistic Industries (I.S.I.A), I moved to Milan in the year 2000. Since then, I have found in fashion a language with which to explore my imagination: not so much a shop window, but a territory of vision where beauty and thought can coexist. My first black and white shots had a more artistic edge, but I soon realized I wanted to push further. To build scenes, imagine worlds, and use aesthetics as a vehicle for meaning. This is how my style was formed: a balance between surreality, rigor, and visual tension. I love details and composition; I use light to both reveal and conceal.
During my career, I have shot editorials for Vogue Italia, Russia and Accessory, Vanity Fair, Harrods Magazine, Esquire, and L’Officiel. I have worked with brands such as Prada, Moschino, Luxottica, Furla, Kiko Milano, and Giovanni Raspini. But it has never been just work. It has been a way to question myself, to explore the feminine, and to always push the boundary between beauty and restlessness a little further. In every project, I seek to blend rigor and enchantment.
My working method is structured and instinctive at the same time. Every shot is the result of an invisible direction, where everything seems natural but nothing is left to chance. I always work with people who can read my gaze before I even speak. Every project is a step further toward photography that wants to narrate, not just decorate. I am not interested in aesthetics for their own sake. Every image of mine is born from careful study: concept, styling, lighting, and colors. Every element must speak. It must say something.
Killing Time is perhaps the work that represents me most. A reflection on contemporary femininity, suspended between grace and restlessness, strength and ambiguity. It is in projects like this that photography becomes narrative, critique, and language. And it becomes something living that remains.
Photography, for me, is a space of freedom—my way of taking a stand, of building worlds that tell how I see reality or how I would like it to be. It is never just a job. It is a necessity. An urgency. I don't shoot to show, but to search. To give shape to something that doesn't exist yet, but that I know is there, somewhere, waiting to be seen.
I continue to live in Milan, where I have my studio. I teach, collaborate, and experiment. I don't like to show off; I prefer my photographs to speak for me. But I have the same curiosity I had as a child peeking through the red lights of the darkroom. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that style is never a starting point: it is the consequence of who you are. They define me as a fashion photographer, but I think I am simply a visual storyteller. Because light can be as sharp as a blade or as soft as a breath, but I, in the middle, build stories.
To photograph, for me, is this: a way to give back to the world a gaze that is never satisfied, that searches for meaning within beauty. Even when it hurts a little.
Lucia Giacani
EDITORIAL PUBLICATIONS
Vogue Italia, Vogue.it, Vogue Accessory, Vogue Russia, Vogue India, Vogue UK, Vogue China, Vogue Gioiello, Vogue Sposa, VS, Vanity Fair Italia, Glamour Italia, Glamour Poland, Glamour Brazil, Modern Weekly China, Harrods Magazine, Allure US, Esquire Italia, ODDA, L'Officiel Baltics, L'Officiel Ukraine, L'Officiel India, L'Officiel Austria, L'Officiel Brazil, Tatler HK, Tatler Russia, The Collector, Madame Figaro, Ladies & Gentleman, Gentleman & Lei-MF, OOB Magazine Paris, La Botanica, Sposa White, Posh, Prestige
EXHIBITIONS
Solo exhibition "Surreal Identities, fashion photographs by Lucia Giacani 2007-2025," curated by Angela Madesani, Istituto Secoli, Milan 2025
Group exhibition "Sguardi di intesa. La moda fotografata dalle donne," curated by Angela Madesani, Centro Saint-Bénin, Aosta 2024
Lucia Giacani, Solo exhibition, Alter Art Gallery Shanghai, China 2019
Fashion Calling, presentation of new works, Lumas Art Gallery Milan, Italy 2017
10 Collection, “Clean Inside” Adobe, virtual exhibition, California, USA, 2016
DXB Fashion Photography, group public exhibition, The Mall of the Emirates, Dubai 2015
Solo exhibition "Lucid Dreams," Art Basel Miami, USA, 2014
Solo exhibition "Lucid Dreams," Mole Vanvitelliano, Ancona, Italy 2014
Group exhibition, XII International Fashion Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2014
Solo exhibition during "Fotorama - Art photography festival," Kragujevac, Serbia, 2014
Group exhibition, XI International Fashion Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2013
Group exhibition, X International Fashion Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2012
Group exhibition, IX International Fashion Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2011
Group exhibition, VIII International Fashion Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2010
Solo exhibition during "Immagini festival," Lecco, curated by Roberto Mutti, Italy, 2007
Group exhibition "TerzoOcchio," The Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukuoka, Japan, 2007
Solo exhibition, "Somnia," Brancaleone, Rome, Italy, 2006
Solo exhibition, "Alla ragazza inaspettata," Brancaleone, Rome, Italy, 2004
Group exhibition of contemporary art from Marche, "ART ON" Museum, Castel di Lama, Italy, 2004
Solo exhibition, "Tutto il freddo degli anni," La Finestra sul Cortile gallery, Rome, Italy 2004
AWARDS
2025: Recipient of the "Eccellenze Italiane" Award, Rome.
2020: Recipient of the "Association of Window Dressers & Visual Europei" Award, Milan.
2005: Finalist for the "Premio Razzano," group exhibition, Museo Sannio and Rocca dei Rettori, Benevento.
2004: Third place, "HERMATENA" Photography Award, Bologna.
2004: Winner of the "Mediterraneo Art" Photography Section, traveling exhibition, Palermo.
2003: Finalist at the "Festival of the Arts," Bologna.
2003: Second place, "GLI ANZIANI" competition, S. Egidio exhibition, Museum of Rome in Trastevere, Rome, Italy.