Trump, Epstein and Weinstein in the Nineties: What one photographer saw...
At the turn of the century, Dafydd Jones was in the thick of political galas and celebrity parties in New York and LA. He tells Claudia Joseph how it gave him a unique insight into the movers and shakers of that era, some of whom would go on to hold the highest positions in the land
Dafydd Jones’s images offer a candid look at New York’s Yuppie era, when Donald Trump was building up his property empire, Rudy Giuliani was cleaning up the streets of New York, Jeffrey Epstein had yet to be arrested for child sex offences, and Michael Douglas was riding high on the success of his role as Wall Street financier Gordon Gekko.
Meanwhile, on the west coast, the photographer was busy capturing a golden age of Hollywood, before celebrities were surrounded by vast entourages, and the #MeToo movement was still a dot on the horizon.
These images, taken before the turn of the century, give us a snapshot into the rise of America’s future movers and shakers, when mobile phones were in their infancy, Facebook had yet to be created, and the hit TV series Succession hadn’t even occurred to a twenty-something Jesse Armstrong.
Working for the prestigious Vanity Fair magazine, as well as The New York Observer, Jones, now 69, was in the thick of a social group who would rise to the most powerful positions in the land. It was a time when the boundaries were blurring between business, media and fashion and the idea of celebrity culture was really taking shape.
Jones was everywhere: from exclusive invitations to Oscar parties in LA and Wasp gatherings on New York’s Upper East Side to political galas, restaurant openings and fashion shows. It was here that he would end up photographing a number of future presidents, including Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Trump.
Now, in two new books Hollywood: Confidential and New York: High Life/Low Life, he captures the A-listers, politicians, media magnates, financiers and socialites, who have since shaped our culture on both sides of the Atlantic, either by becoming some of the most powerful people in the Western world or by their spectacular fall from grace.
Here, he talks about the moments he captured and his memories from that heady time.
Donald Trump and Marla Maples and their wedding at the Plaza Hotel, 1993
Jones had a front-row seat to the breakdown of Trump’s first marriage to Czech model Ivana Zelníčkov, mother of his three oldest children Donald Jnr, Ivanka, and Eric, and second marriage to US model and actress Marla Maples, who has daughter Tiffany, now 31.
“Trump and Ivana were ubiquitous,” he recalls, “although they were looked down upon by the old-money set. They never minded me being around. Trump a reminded me of a gangster, arriving with a bodyguard when nobody else in New York had one, having very aggressive conversations and pointing at people in the same way as he did recently with Zelensky.
“I remember complaining to the picture editor of Vanity, Elisabeth Biondi, about the amount of space we were giving him and Ivana. She said that the photographs of his apartment in Trump Tower were very revealing because they were so tacky. I could never have predicted at the time that he would one day be running the show.”
Senator Joe Biden
Jones also photographed Joe Biden, when he was a senator, at the 1990 Democrats gala, but found he lacked charisma. “Biden was nothing as prominent as Trump,” he says. “He didn’t make much impression on me. I photographed Bill and Hilary Clinton in New York, and they were much more places.”
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
He first came across Epstein at the 1993 opening party for the Harley-Davidson Cafe. “Amongst the guests, I saw a wolf-like man watching the room from a balcony,” he remembers. “It was a strong image, and I took a picture. Then I asked his name. It was Jeffrey Epstein.
Later he attended New York School of the Arts fundraisers with Ghislaine Maxwell, but I would never have put the two together as a couple. A new arrival from England, Ghislaine slipped easily into New York society. I assumed she was living on some of the money her father had embezzled.”
Rupert Murdoch
Another billionaire that Jones encountered during his time in New York was media magnate Rupert Murdoch, then married to his second wife Anna, mother of his three children Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, who are now involved in a bitter family feud over their inheritance. “Murdoch was much more popular in New York than Trump,” he adds. “He mixed in more elite circles than Trump and was considered much classier.’
Gwyneth Paltrow and Harvey Weinstein at the Vanity Fair Oscar night party, 1999
Clutching a cocktail, Gwyneth Paltrow, then 26, celebrates winning her first Oscar for the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love with her brother Jake. But the film, which won seven Academy Awards and grossed $289m worldwide, was not without controversy. Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of strong-arming his stars into participating in an unprecedented blitzkrieg of press in order to beat the critically acclaimed Saving Private Ryan. Paltrow later accused him of sexual harassment.
“Gwyneth and Harvey arrived together both clutching Oscars,” says Jones. “I didn’t notice any weird chemistry between them, but it was way before the #MeToo movement. I took their picture, but it didn’t make the edit as he was not a very attractive man. I much prefer this photograph with her brother. You can see Richard Buckley, who was the editor-in-chief of Vogue Hommes and fashion designer Tom Ford’s partner in the background.”
Jonny Depp and Kate Moss , Danziger Gallery, New York, 1995
Their rollercoaster relationship lasted three years, but their friendship endures to this day, with the model appearing via a live video in front of a Virginia courtroom in 2022 during his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. The couple was introduced in 1994 by former Vanity Fair writer George Wayne at Café Tabac in the East Village, where Moss was dining with Naomi Campbell, and it was love at first sight. Jones captured the couple at the height of their romance. “The thing I like about this picture is that it looks like Kate is sucking her thumb like a cigarette,” he explains “while Johnny is actually smoking. They were a really glamorous couple, and they’ve obviously stayed on good terms because she was a witness in his court case.”
Mick Jagger, Madonna & Tony Curtis, Vanity Fair Oscar night party, Morton’s, LA, 24/3/1997
Madonna was at the height of her fame when Vanity Fair hosted its 1997 party: she had just won a Golden Globe for her role as Eva Peron in the movie Evita, and had sung its award-winning anthem “You Must Love Me” at the Oscars. So, she was spoilt for choice for conversation. Here, she is sandwiched between Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and Hollywood veteran Tony Curtis,
“The photo that gave me a jolt of excitement when I saw it happening was the one of Mick Jagger looking miserable,” explains Jones. “First, Mick was sitting by himself looking bored, and then Madonna crossed the room to sit down next to him. She started talking and he became quite animated. Then Tony Curtis came along, sat down at the same table and started monopolising Madonna – Jagger was once again on his own and looking miserable.”
New York: High Life/Low Life and Hollywood: Confidential are both published by ACC Art Books (£30)
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