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In 1974, Tina Barney moved from New York City to Sun Valley, Idaho, a quiet, picturesque ski hamlet set within the Rocky Mountains. It was there, while taking an art school class on great American photographers, that she began shooting photographs herself. In the five-plus decades that followed, Barney became a legendary American photographer in her own right, with works entering the permanent collections of museums like the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The daughter of 1940s fashion model Lillian Fox and granddaughter of the founder of Lehman Brothers, Barney is known for documenting high society with a sharp eye, photographing affluent Americans, European aristocrats, and lavish spaces. She also captured what they wore—and shot for fashion magazines and major designers like Gucci and Bottega Veneta. Barney’s relationship with style, stemming from her mother’s work with fashion photographers like Horst P. Horst and George Hoyningen-Huene, is the subject of her new book Tina Barney: Fashion, out now.
In honor of her book’s release, Barney took our On the Couch survey, sharing a few of her biggest influences and inspirations.
Greatest Influences: I made a film on Jan Groover. I made a film on Horst P. Horst. And you can see the photos he took of my mom in the new book.
Favorite Sofa: My couch has been in this house for decades, and I am probably getting a new one because this one’s falling apart. But it is in the right place with the right light. I can watch TV; I can read; I can draw; I can do anything I want from this place. And it’s comfortable.
Most beloved buildings: I did a whole book on the Noguchi Museum, a portrait of Isamu Noguchi’s building, in a way, and of his sculpture.
Photo: Chanel Matsunami Govreau. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS)
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
Destination Museum: The Musée d’Orsay. It’s the way the paintings are hung that really interests me. There are artworks placed within little cubicles, and then, of course, there are the most well-known paintings that are just so easy to keep looking at. So the Musée d’Orsay first, followed by almost any other museum in Paris.
Atlantide Phototravel//Getty Images
The Musee d’Orsay.
Go-to galleries: It depends on the artist that is showing. In New York, I go out to look at galleries every month with a friend. We’ll see what the new shows are, and I always try to learn from what I see.
Favorite Artist: I don’t like to name names because there are no favorites. But I just saw a Brice Marden show at Gagosian that was tops.
© 2026 Estate of Brice Marden/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Photo: Owen Conway, Courtesy Gagosian
Brice Marden’s I Am Plane Image exhibit at Gagosian.
Favorite getaway: I travel as little as possible right now. I live in Rhode Island part-time, more so than in New York. Here it is quiet.
Best Shop for Gifts: Well, I love agnès b. She’s very supportive of photographers, so that’s how I came to know her, and I still visit her shop in New York.
Dominique Charriau//Getty Images
Agnès Troublé who founded the label agnès b.
Best Host/Hostess Gift: A favorite book.
Style Icons: I don’t think of buzzwords like that. But, my mother for sure. Her style was led by her sense of humor, and by her own personality. In those days, you weren’t thinking about the fashion designers and who was in and who was out. And so the clothes had much more character to them.
My mother brought me to an Yves Saint Laurent fashion show in Paris when I was about 16, which I remember very well. It was the first show that Yves Saint Laurent ever had on his own. We also saw the designer Guy Laroche; we went in after the show and my mother had a suit made for her, so they measured her. And that was a pretty fantastic experience.
From Tina Barney: Fashion (Aperture, 2026). © 2026 Tina Barney
Archival scrapbook page of Barney’s mother, Lillian Fox, from the 1930s.
From Tina Barney: Fashion (Aperture, 2026). © 2026 Tina Barney.
More images of Fox from the ’30s.
Fashion Designers: I have a picture of me from about when I was age 14 and I’m wearing a suit that looks like a Chanel. And because they were starting to copy her at that point, you could get a viable suit for someone 14 or 16 years old that looked like a Chanel. I love that the style of Chanel has existed for so long, and has not changed that much.
Tina Barney, The Lincoln Room, POP , 2017; from Tina Barney: Fashion (Aperture, 2026). © 2026 Tina Barney
The photograph The Lincoln Room by Tina Barney, as seen in POP.
Required Reading: Katie Kitamura. Also, Judith Freeman, my favorite author, who I know is working on a new novel.
Cocktail of Choice: I don’t drink; I never have. I’m like a monk.
Horst P. Horst//Getty Images
Elsa Peretti, photographed in 1976 by Horst P. Horst.
Favorite Restaurant: The Olympia Tea Room in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Favorite Jeweler: Elsa Peretti.
Annie Goldsmith is the senior editor and digital lead at ELLE Decor, where she covers design, culture, style, and trends. She previously held positions at The Information, covering technology and culture, and Town & Country, writing about news, entertainment, and fashion. Her work has also appeared in Vogue, Rolling Stone, and the SF Standard.