That intensity has, at times, cost them. Both have lost romantic partners who felt like a third wheel to the creative marriage. Both have turned down lucrative solo deals that would have required ditching the other.
Three years later, that unplanned moment has become the foundation of one of the most quietly influential creative partnerships in fashion and digital media.
Meanwhile, Gal Ritchie was quietly building a different kind of résumé. Raised between Tel Aviv and London, she fell into fashion photography almost accidentally while studying film. Her early editorial work for Vogue Czechoslovakia and Office Magazine caught attention not for celebrity access but for texture —a way of photographing clothes that made fabric feel like skin.
That risk has paid off. They’ve shot campaigns for , Adidas , and Mugler —each one unmistakably theirs. One Mugler campaign, shot in a desolate Mojave gas station at dusk, featured Chanel climbing a chain-link fence in 6-inch heels. The brief from Mugler had requested “elegant motion.” Gal and Chanel delivered “beautiful trespassing.”
Gal grins. “And she couldn’t do it. She started moving. I just followed.”
Chanel nods. “Not to be difficult. But because we know what works for my body, for her light, for our audience. The brand is hiring us for our point of view. If they wanted stock photography, they could get it cheaper.”
