I’m not in the habit of writing love letters. My heart is already taken. But I feel it’s way past time to vent my decades-long passion for the photography of Steven Meisel. It’s been rekindled by an exhibition which opened this week in A Coruña, the Galician port where Inditex founder Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in 1975. That’s relevant because it’s his daughter Marta’s foundation which is staging the show in an exhibition space converted from warehouses on A Coruña’s waterfront.

The exhibition is remarkable for any number of reasons. Its full title “Steven Meisel 1993, A Year in Photographs” signposts its focus. According to Lina Bey, who has run his studio forever, Meisel photographed 124 magazine editorials, 28 Vogue covers and six advertising campaigns in that year alone. His prodigious output was matched by a creative spurt that resulted in a cluster of images that endure as modern fashion icons. And that was just one year of the many which define Meisel as the greatest fashion photographer de nos jours. I can’t help myself, I instantly jump to “Picasso 1932,” the breathtaking show staged at Tate Modern in 2018, which clubbed this viewer into submission with its reminder that Picasso’s greatest-ever status was founded on year after year after year of restless, questing genius, with 1932 singled out for its particular breadth and depth. Same with “Meisel93.”