They put Victoria Beckham in a giant shopping bag, made child-sized versions of grown-up gowns for Dakota Fanning, played dress-up with the artist Cindy Sherman, followed Kate Moss to Ronnie Wood’s recording studio in Ireland and went on a road trip with Sofia Coppola. The results are a remarkable photo portfolio, commissioned by Marc Jacobs and taken by Juergen Teller.

One of fashion’s most enduring partnerships, the pair have collaborated on Jacobs’s advertising campaigns since 1998, and the pictures have now been collected into an enormous coffee-table tome. The idea behind them all is a simple one. The pair choose people they like, admire or find interesting. “Juergen then just goes off and does his thing,” says Jacobs. “I don’t really give him much direction.” Teller’s “thing” often involves shooting the subject without regard for showing off the clothes, as is customary for ad campaigns. But neither Jacobs nor Teller care much for convention. “The ads are not really about selling product,” explains Jacobs. Instead, they cleverly sell a mood, a spirit and a real sense of cool.

There is a good story behind every picture. Teller tells of how he decided on the spur of the moment to put himself in the pictures with Charlotte Rampling. When she asked him what he’d like to do in the shots, he answered: “Well, Charlotte, I thought I could just kiss you and fondle your breasts.” She lit a long thin cigarillo, pondered his suggestion and then said: “Let’s go.”

Jacobs, with his fashion designer’s nose for timing, chose Winona Ryder right after she was convicted of shoplifting a Marc Jacobs sweater from an upscale department store. “There’s often a fallen angel aspect to the girls and women I really love — this flaw, this tragic flaw. It’s not really tragic at all, I just like imperfection,” says Jacobs. He and Teller also picked Victoria Beckham just as she was making the transition from Wag to bona fide fashion designer. The decision to use her surprised many who believed Beckham did not belong in Jacobs and Teller’s roll call of notable talents and supercool hipsters, which includes Jarvis Cocker, Meg White, Rufus Wainwright, Samantha Morton, Rachel Feinstein, Ryan McGinley and Kim Gordon. “Everyone said that she was not our type of girl,” acknowledges Jacobs. “But what was surprising was that she was so incredibly right. I love her for a lot of reasons. She’s incredibly hard-working. I really admire people who pursue their dreams. I love people who pursue and actively make things happen for themselves. We were talking about the concept and I said that it would be great to have her in a giant shopping bag and have her as a sort of product of our times.” The idea of seeing herself as a commodity was one that Beckham immediately understood and liked. It was Teller’s job to explain the concept to her. “She said, ‘Yes, yes, I know what you mean.’ It was very important that she was laughing with us,” says Teller. Indeed, she who laughs last laughs longest. The campaign went a long way towards eclipsing her Spice Girl image and establishing Beckham as a fashion figure to be reckoned with, particularly in America.

Marc Jacobs Advertising 1998-2009, by Juergen Teller (Steidl £78). Available at the Sunday Times BooksFirst price of £70 (including p&p) on 0845 271 2135 and timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst

KRISTEN MCMENAMY

Supermodel, autumn/winter 2005

Marc Jacobs “When I saw the Kristen McMenamy pictures I was so delighted that they were so insane-looking. That was a very big collection for me. It was not just about making some nice clothes, but taking more risks in terms of making a fashion statement. So seeing her look so crazy ... well, I do like the screwball ones a bit more.”

VICTORIA BECKHAM

Fashion designer, spring/summer 2008

Marc Jacobs “She allowed herself to be photographed in a way she has never been, which is full-on Victoria, not retouched, not airbrushed, and a bit crazy. She said to me, ‘This is going to be so good for me. I’ve always loved fashion. I’m working hard on a dress line. A great American designer choosing me — do you know what a big opportunity this is for me, and do you know that this will give me a certain credibility?’”

Juergen Teller “I said, ‘Why don’t you sit down and open your legs? I don’t want to see your face.’ And she was like, ‘Is it all right? Is it all right?’ Then I showed her the Polaroid and she was laughing her head off. She said, ‘Let’s do more, that’s really funny.’ It’s quite a sexy picture. It’s a mixture between a gynaecological image and a sex image, and you see the shoes.”

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