Two exhibitions, one lens: Newton and Scianna recount fashion and more

If you love photography that tells much more than it shows, this is the fall for you. In the province of Cuneo, two unmissable exhibitions await you, revealing the secrets, provocations, and wonders of fashion photography as seen through the eyes and lenses of two giants: Helmut Newton and Ferdinando Scianna.

Helmut Newton and Ferdinando Scianna on display in Cuneo

From October 23, 2025, Helmut Newton. Intrecci al Filatoio di Caraglio and Ferdinando Scianna. La moda, la vita alla Castiglia di Saluzzo invite you on a double journey through images that have made history, each with its own voice, style, and way of looking at the world (and clothes) through time.

And believe me: it’s not just about fashion.

Helmut Newton, Heather looking through a keyhole, Bijou, French Vogue, Paris 1994

1. Helmut Newton at the Filatoio: elegance, provocation, and theater

Enter the Filatoio di Caraglio, one of the most evocative buildings in Piedmont, and you immediately find yourself in the visionary world of Helmut Newton. The exhibition “Intrecci” (Intertwined), curated by Matthias Harder of the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, brings together more than 100 photographs, including some previously unseen ones. These iconic and surprising shots are the result of his collaborations with brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Blumarine, Lavazza, Ca’ del Bosco, and Wolford.

More than a fashion review, however, this is a visual script. Newton stages bodies, glances, tensions, and desires. His photography is anything but neutral: it is a gaze that disturbs and enchants, seduces and unmasks.

Alongside his most famous portraits—featuring models such as Kate Moss, Monica Bellucci, Carla Bruni, and Eva Herzigová—the exhibition explores the artist’s eclecticism, revealing his transition from editorial to advertising photography. In both, Newton remains faithful to his theatrical, ironic style, full of allusions. Each shot is a world unto itself. Each pose is a story.

The title “Intrecci” (Intertwining) says it all: the intertwining of fashion and art, bodies and gazes, elegance and transgression. An exhibition to be experienced rather than just looked at.

2. Ferdinando Scianna at the Castiglia: fashion walking down the street

A few kilometers away, in the heart of Saluzzo, a totally different but perfectly complementary exhibition awaits you: Ferdinando Scianna. Fashion, life, curated by Denis Curti.

Here, fashion is not a dream, but everyday life. It is not a scene, but a narrative.

Scianna photographs like a reporter, even when he talks about clothes and catwalks, and this is precisely why he manages to convey the soul of fashion: that elusive detail that lies in the hands, in the alleys, in stolen smiles, in the fabrics that move in the wind.

His approach is far from glossy photography: his lens is ethical, narrative, deeply human. This can be seen in the famous campaign for Dolce&Gabbana with model Marpessa, set in Sicilian villages. And it can be found in every image taken for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Stern between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

There are over ninety photos on display: all of them show real, lived fashion, never artificial. For Scianna, photography is literature, memory, life. What you will find in front of you is an exhibition that moves you. And makes you think.

Ferdinando Scianna, Marpessa, Caltagirone 1987 © Ferdinando Scianna

One journey, two perspectives

The beauty of these two exhibitions? They work on their own, but they enrich each other.

Helmut Newton and Ferdinando Scianna both talk about fashion, but they do so from opposite angles.

Newton creates iconic and imaginary images, while Scianna seeks truth in the most everyday details. The former is provocative, the latter is narrative. Yet in both, there is a deep love for photography as a language capable of saying much more than it shows.

Visiting both exhibitions is not only a cultural treat: it is a break from the distracted gaze, allowing you to immerse yourself in the power of images that linger, speak and stand the test of time.

Helmut Newton. Intrecci
Caraglio (CN), Il Filatoio (via Matteotti 40)
October 23, 2025 – March 1, 2026

Ferdinando Scianna. Fashion, Life
Saluzzo (CN), La Castiglia (piazza Castello, 1)
October 24, 2025 – March 1, 2026

Both exhibitions are promoted by the Artea Foundation, in collaboration with the municipalities of Caraglio and Saluzzo.