Before Instagram and Hipstamatic: These Antonio Lopez's Instamatic Snaps of the 1970s Fashion World Are Amazing!

Antonio Lopez (1943-1987) was a fashion illustrator whose work appeared in such publications as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Interview and The New York Times. Several books collecting his illustrations have been published. In his obituary, the New York Times called him a "major fashion illustrator." He generally signed his works as "Antonio."

For fun, he bought an Instamatic camera to capture his famous social swirl — Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Divine, Grace Jones, Paloma Picasso, Jessica Lange — thus keeping a kind of visual diary of the era.

With the Instamatic style of imagery made ubiquitous by today's Instagram and Hipstamatic, Lopez's snapshots seem fresh and contemporary despite the fact they were taken almost 40 years ago. Lopez was not content to merely record these faces and bodies; he elaborated each into a sequence, and then explored the potential fantasy within each series. He arranged these pictures into photo albums.

Antonio Lopez died of AIDS in 1987, aged 44, although he would surely have devoured social media were he alive today.

Jessica Lange, New York City, 1975.

Pat Cleveland, Paris, 1975.

Silvano Malta, Puerto Rico, 1975.

Divine (Polaroids), New York, 1978.

Tina Chow, London, 1975.

Cafe Society Series, Cast of 'Dig-it Boys', Paris, 1975.

Blue Water Series: Daniel, Paris, 1974.

Cafe Society Series: Jean-Eudes Canival, Paris, 1975.

Karl Lagerfeld, New York City, 1975.

Shoe Series: New York City, 1976.

Yves Saint Laurent, Marina Schiano, Jerry Hall, Pierre Berge, Paris, 1977.

Mask Series: Manuel Papatakis, Gilles Millinaire, Jessica Lange, Jean-Eudes Canival, London, 1975.

Grace Coddington, Jamaica, 1974.

Men in Showers Series: Karl Lagerfeld, New York City, 1976.

Grace Coddington, Jerry Hall, Jamaica, 1975.

Tina Chow, 1980s.

Ribbon Serie, New York City, 1977.

Red Coat Series : Jessica Lange, Paris, 1974.

Margaux Hemingway, Halston, Liza Minelli, Andy Warhol, Ultra Violet, New York City, 1974.

Divine (Polaroids), New York, 1978.

Scott Daley, Jody Pavlis, New York City, 1978.

Puerto Rico, 1976.

Jerry Hall, Eric Milan & Marcel

Jerry Hall, Texas, 1972.

Jerry Hall, 1970s.