The June 1996 issue of Vogue US featured one of the decade’s most talked-about editorials: “Good Morning Vietnam,” shot by Bruce Weber with Kate Moss at the center. Weber was already known for building entire worlds inside a photograph, and this assignment gave him a city’s worth of raw material to work with.
The shoot began with a logistical spectacle. A crate large enough, by Weber’s own account, to hold a small elephant arrived in Saigon. Inside was a John Galliano gown — massive, elaborate, and completely out of place on the streets of a city buzzing with motor scooters. Getting it there was just the start.
Saigon hit the crew hard and fast. Hundreds of scooters packed the roads, with families balancing windows, mattresses, and children on single bikes. Weber and his team — including Chris and Terry Lawrence — retreated to their van between shots. White cotton seats, floral embroidery, hot tea, and Pringles kept them grounded while the city swirled outside.
From day one, Weber had a specific vision: he wanted to photograph an elderly Vietnamese man alongside Kate. He pictured someone older, with a beard — a face that held years of life in it. That contrast, between the man’s age and Kate’s youth, was the image he was chasing throughout the entire trip.
On the second day, the crew visited The Sunshine School, founded by Irish humanitarian Christina Noble, who had documented her work with Vietnamese orphans in her book Bridge Across My Sorrows. The school provided medical care and clothing to children in need. Kate, Vogue editor Brana Wolf, and the rest of the team spent time playing with the kids. Weber photographed Kate in the thick of it — relaxed, genuine, and fully present.
The Sunshine School visit produced some of the shoot’s most candid frames. Away from the fashion apparatus, Kate was simply a young woman surrounded by children, and Weber responded to that honesty with his camera.
The final day brought the shoot’s defining moment. The crate was opened in a remote field north of Saigon — a quiet, open stretch that reminded Weber of his Montana ranch. Brana, Nan, Kim (the team’s local guide), and Terry worked together to lift the Galliano gown out and get Kate dressed. It required multiple sets of hands just to manage the volume of fabric.
As the sun dropped and the sky changed color, an elderly farmer walked across the field toward them. He had a white beard and wore pajamas that, by an extraordinary coincidence, closely matched the palette of Kate’s gown. Kim asked him where he was going. He said he was crossing the field to say goodnight to his grandchildren.
Kim then asked if he would be willing to stand with Kate for a photograph. The farmer agreed, bowing his head. His grandchildren came out to watch and stared at their grandfather standing next to a supermodel in an enormous designer gown in the middle of their field.
Weber got his shot — the one he had been searching for since the moment they landed. The elderly man with the beard, standing beside Kate Moss, the gown between them like a bridge across two entirely different worlds. When it was done, the farmer walked on into the evening to see his grandchildren, just as he had planned.
