Bonkers

A Fortnight in London

Bettina Rheims

Bonkers – A Fortnight in London, shot in London in June of 2013, is the title of the latest series by the French artist Bettina Rheims. The complex body of work is the result of the artistic creativity of Bettina Rheims, the skills of stylist Sascha Lilic, the fashion of Vivienne Westwood, and the frivolity of a group of young women in London – including Amber Le Bon, Harriet Vernet, Mary Charteris, Portia Freeman, and Morwenna Lytton Cobbold. The large-scale portraits and nudes depict young women whose reputation in society and the media is circumscribed by the term ‘it girl’. These women’s portrayals play with stereotypes, deliberately exaggerate clichés, and question the difference in how women are perceived in public – in terms of their sexuality, drug consumption, and individual personality.