American photographer Nan Goldin is a woman whose sincerity, sensitivity and inquisitive nature allows for honest and intimate moments to be captured by her lens. Her images are the result of an unwavering vision and focus on intense human emotion, rendering a sense of realism to the theatrical.

As a long time collaborator with Kris Van Assche, it was a natural step that Nan contributed her images to A#7, to share her enjoyment in being a part of Kris’s world. These images were taken at the runway exit of Kris’s first Dior Homme catwalk show for Fall Winter 2008, on January 20th, 2008 in Paris.

Nan’s pictures are truly up close and personal, almost like surveillance shots, showing Kris as he puts his finishing touches on the models’ looks as they walk out. Stark white face paint renders them as mime artists, and the range of subtly-nuanced expressions that flit across their faces reflects the tension, excitement, adrenalin and maybe apprehension that they are feeling.

Since this event, Nan Goldin continues to shoot Kris Van Assche’s shows for Dior and his own label. We caught up with her in June 2009 after the Dior SS10 show, at which time she expressed her love of Kris’s models as her own muses and friends also: “they really are my boys”.