In the end of the 1980s Naundorf met the fashion photographer
Horst P. Horst in New York, who became her mentor.[7][8] In 1997, she began to photograph backstage for
Condé Nast during various Paris fashion shows.[9]
She collaborated several times with the interior designer Didier Gomez and the
Sofitel Paris Hotel,[14] as well as with Parisian jewellers.[15] Since 2012 Naundorf has been working with
Valentino Garavani on various projects such as "An Italian Story - Au Chateau de Wideville"[16][17] and the campaign for Valentino's Somerset House exhibition "Valentino: Master of Couture".[18][5] Several projects with the
Victoria and Albert Museum[19] followed in 2014 like for the exhibition "Horst - Photographer of Style".[20]
Works from her collaborations with fashion houses like Dior, Valentino, Chanel and Armani were published in the photo book Haute Couture. The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf in 2012.[10]
The 2018 publication of Women of Singular beauty – Chanel Haute Couture by Cathleen Naundorf covered over 15 years of Naundorf's collaboration with the fashion house Chanel.[11][23]
In 2016 she won the American Photography Award.[24]
In 2018
Fotografiska in Stockholm exhibited under the title Secret times, 100 large size photographs, her camera, private diaries and set design.[21]
Naundorf's photographs are at public and private collections including the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum,[25] London and the Musée Rodin, Paris.[26][6]
The architecture of fashion – three generations of fashion photography,
George Honingen–Huene, Horst P. Horst, Cathleen Naundorf. Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach, 2010
Gazing at Beauty. George Honingen-Huene, Horst P. Horst, Cathleen Naundorf,
Herb Ritts,
Melvin Sokolsky. Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach, 2009
Fashion is big.
Patrick Demarchelier, George Honingen-Huene,
Frank Horvat, Horst P. Horst,
William Klein, Cathleen Naundorf, Herb Ritts, Albert Watson. Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach, 2008
Naundorf, Cathleen; Harder, Matthias (2012). Stehmann, Ira (ed.). Haute Couture. The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf. New York, München: Prestel.
ISBN978-3-7913-51551.
Naundorf, Cathleen; Neutres, Jérôme (2018). Women of Singular Beauty: Chanel Haute Couture by Cathleen Naundorf. New York: Rizzoli.
ISBN978-0-8478-6348-8.
Naundorf, Cathleen; Neutres, Jérôme (2018). Beauté singulière: Chanel haute couture par Cathleen Naundorf. New York: Rizzoli.
ISBN978-0-8478-6205-4.
^
abcCathleen Naundorf. Art + Fashion. 1.10.2010 - 30.1.2011, [exhibition brochure], Museen der Stadt Kornwestheim, 2010.
^Brita, Sachs (8 July 2012).
"Ganz ohne digitale Tricks". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
^
abSomerset House (29 November 2012).
"Valentino: Master of Couture". somersethouse.org.uk.
Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
^
abNaundorf, Cathleen; Harder, Matthias (2012). Stehmann, Ira (ed.). Haute Couture. The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf. New York, München: Prestel.
ISBN978-3-7913-51551.
^
abNaundorf, Cathleen; Neutres, Jérôme (2018). Women of Singular Beauty: Chanel Haute Couture by Cathleen Naundorf. New York: Rizzoli.
ISBN978-0-8478-6348-8.