Davide Sorrenti

Davide Sorrenti (July 9, 1976 – February 4, 1997) was an Italian-American photographer, born into the prominent fashion photography Sorrenti family. He is best remembered for his involvement in the rise and fall of the Heroin chic fashion trend of the 1990s.

Early life
Davide Sorrenti was born 1976 in Naples in a family of talented photographers.

The Sorrentis moved to New York in January 1982, partly because Davide had thalassemia (or Cooley's anemia, a hereditary form of anemia), and needed regular blood transfusions and medical care. The disease made him look several years younger than his real age. His brother Mario documented his sufferings one of many nights, published in the book The Machine, titled for the drug infusion pump that Davide was hooked up to.

Sorrenti attended Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities, with fellow skateboarders and graffiti artists. Davide's tag was Argue (SKE) with whom he formed a rap group called The Mosaics, because of their wide mix of ethnicities; he also started the streetwear label Danücht.

Career
Sorrenti shot for magazines such as Interview, Ray Gun, i-D, Detour, Independent, Surface and Dune. He shot for fashion brands such as Hugo Boss, Bergdorf Goodman, Supreme, Hysteric Glamour and Zoo York. He also worked with KAWS, Kate Moss, Milla Jovovich and Jaime King.

In a series of snapshots published in Interview 1996, Sorrenti's friends from SKE (Some Kids Envy) are portrayed hanging out in a run-down apartment, watching TV and using drugs.

One of Sorrenti's photos shows a young model lying on a bed, with torn clothes surrounded with photos of Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, and Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead.

Sorrenti founded the fashion brand DANUCHT, which is best known for its anti-commercial "MODELS SUCK" t-shirt famously worn by English model Naomi Campbell in the 1996 film Girl 6.

Death and aftermath
On February 4, 1997, Davide died. There were drugs in his system, but they were not lethal. He died peacefully in his sleep.

As a reaction to her son's death, Francesca Sorrenti started a campaign against the glamourization of drug addiction and underage models, demanding magazine editors to take responsibility. She was more upset with the fact that the models were starting to get addicted to drugs, and no one was saying anything about it. "Heroin chic isn't what we're projecting. It's what we are. Our business has become heroin chic. Someone taking pictures of that magnitude has to have experienced hard drugs", Ms. Sorrenti stated in The New York Times.

Documentary
In November 2018 filmmaker Charles Curran released a documentary film called See Know Evil on the life, work and death of Davide Sorrenti. "[The] film is partly about telling the story of his life, partly about trying to present a balanced reappraisal of his work." Davide's work is intertwined with his friends and youthful exploits. In November 2019 Francesca Sorrenti, David's mother, released Davide Sorrenti ArgueSKE 1994–1997, a retrospective of his work.