Culture + Lifestyle

Go Inside Elizabeth Taylor's Closets

Photographer Catherine Opie reveals a more personal side of movie star Elizabeth Taylor in a new book and upcoming exhibition

By Alyssa BirdPhotography by Catherine Opie/Courtesy of Regen Projects, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin, New York & Hong Kong

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A new book by renowned photographer Catherine Opie, out this month, gives readers an intimate look into the life of late movie star Elizabeth Taylor. The actress granted Opie access to her Bel Air, California, home after the two were introduced by their mutual accountant, and the photographer spent six months working there—three months before Taylor’s death in 2011 and three months after. The book, 700 Nimes Road (DelMonico Books/Prestel, $60), comprises close-up photographs of Taylor’s closets, jewelry, and mementos as well as room shots. Opie was inspired by William Eggleston’s images of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate to create a nontraditional portrait that gives readers a glimpse into Taylor’s personality through her most personal spaces and possessions. Opie’s work surrounding Taylor is the subject of an upcoming solo exhibition at Los Angeles’s MOCA Pacific Design Center from January 23 through May 8, 2016.
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Living Room North View, a photograph by Catherine Opie of Elizabeth Taylor’s ranch-style home in Bel Air, California.

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The home’s kitchen features a floral ceiling and wall, a fanciful chandelier above a rustic dining table, and mirrored panels with bamboo-style details. Shown is Kitchen Table.
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The Quest for Japanese Beef, a close-up of Taylor’s dressing table. Opie had access to many parts of the residence that had previously been off-limits.

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Krupp Diamond. “Often, when I would open the box containing a jewel she had asked me to bring her, she would react with the kind of joy and amazement one would expect if she were seeing it for the first time,” says Taylor’s former executive assistant Tim Mendelson in the book.
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A detail of Taylor’s closet (The Closet #9), which housed designs by Gianfranco Ferré, Valentino, Halston, Dior, and many more.

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The Shoe Closet. According to Mendelson, the actress would assemble carefully coordinated outfits in this space during her insomniac nights.

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