'Attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places': Slim Aarons's photographs of Cortina d’Ampezzo resurface ahead of the Winter Olympics

Two skiers walking along a narrow snow ridge in the Dolomites, carrying skis on their shoulders beneath towering limestone rock formations and a dark, dramatic winter sky.

Two skiers hike a narrow ridge in the Dolomites, skis on their shoulders — a familiar sight in Alpine skiing during the 1970s and 1980s.

(Image credit: Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

There have always been two types of people on the slopes. In Cortina — Olympic hosts in 1956 and again this year — there are those who ski, and those who come to be seen. Slim Aarons, whose mantra was photographing ‘attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places’, had little interest in the stopwatch; his Cortina was a glamorous place, populated by glamorous people.

Born in 1916, Aarons began his career as a combat photographer during the Second World War before turning towards beauty, leisure and light. Rejecting images of suffering, he spent six decades documenting ease and aspiration, from sun-drenched European destinations and the Riviera to Caribbean beaches — and everywhere in between.

In these photographs, from the Getty Images archive, he shows Cortina at its most appealing: winter sun, long lunches, immaculate hair and top-tier knitwear.

A group of skiers standing on a wooden platform, adjusting bindings and holding ski poles, dressed in knitwear and winter hats with snowy peaks rising behind them. — **Skiers preparing to set off, Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1962.**

When Aarons first arrived in Cortina in 1962, on assignment for Holiday magazine, he found a village basking in the glow of the 1956 Winter Olympics and newly established as a playground for Italian high society and the international jet set. As Getty Images Curator and author of Slim Aarons: The Essential Collection Shawn Waldron notes, what struck Aarons most was how polished people looked both on and off the slopes. The silhouettes here — layered knitwear, tailored trousers, carefully chosen accessories — feel closer to contemporary European street style than to modern technical snow wear. You could drop these people onto Portobello Road and they wouldn’t look out of place.

Snowboarders descending a wide alpine slope in colourful ski suits, carving through fresh snow beneath steep, rocky mountain cliffs. — **Snowboarding in Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1988.**

When Aarons returned to Cortina for the final time in 1988, Shawn points out that he encountered a very different slope culture: ‘snowsurfers’ and early snowboarders hurtling down Cristallo Mountain. Decades before snowboarding became mainstream, the image feels ahead of its time.

Two women posing in the snow wearing 1970s apr&egrave;s-ski fashion, including a red knit jumper, striped leggings, shorts, and tall fur-trimmed boots, smiling in bright winter sunlight. — **Manuela Borgomanero and Emanuela Beghelli, 1976.**

For many visitors, Shawn explains, après-ski fashion was the main event. Socialite Manuela Borgomanero and Italian fashion designer Emanuela Beghelli embody this perfectly: well dressed, relaxed, and more interested in chatting in the sun than vertical descent.

Two women chatting outside a wooden alpine shopfront during snowfall, wearing patterned jackets, fur-trimmed boots and winter hats beneath a scalloped awning. — **Isa Genolini and Maria Antonia on Cortina’s main street, 1982.**

Photographed outside Bredo, one of Cortina’s most celebrated boutiques on Corso Italia, Isa Genolini and Maria Antonia illustrate the town’s ‘see and be seen’ culture.

Skiers crossing a snow ridge beneath towering, jagged Dolomite peaks, carrying skis on their shoulders against a deep blue winter sky. — **Skiers walking uphill, 1962.**

Aarons was never interested in athletic action shots. As Shawn points out, he was drawn instead to moments of transition — pauses and preparations. He even makes this uphill trudge, the least glamorous part of skiing, look appealing.

A lone skier riding an open chairlift high above a snow-covered alpine valley, with rugged mountain peaks stretching into the distance. — **Ski lift, 1962.**

In modern Cortina you’ll find gondolas and high-speed lifts, but in 1962 skiers were carried uphill on simple one- or two-seaters. Waldron reveals that although Aarons photographed dozens of ski resorts, he was not a skier himself. Having spent part of his childhood in New Hampshire, he loved the mountains, but feared injuring his 6ft 4in frame, preferring to take the lift up to photograph and ride back down the same way.

A traditional alpine restaurant with wooden balconies and outdoor tables, where diners sit in the winter sun surrounded by snow. — **Dining al fresco at Ristorante Lago Scin, 1988.**

Dining outdoors was integral to the Cortina experience. Waldron identifies the painter and photographer Lindsay McCrum — who stepped in as Aarons’s assistant for this trip — seated in the sun outside Ristorante Lago Scin. Skiing here was as much about long lunches as it was about the mountain, a balance still familiar across European ski resorts today.

Close-up of a skier&rsquo;s padded trousers and furry apr&egrave;s-ski boots, showing red-and-white detailing and thick white fur trim. — **Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1976.**

When Aarons returned in 1976, Cortina was, according to Shawn, ‘coursing with style’. Here yeti boots are paired with emerging technical ski wear, while a US Ski badge sat easily alongside a Louis Vuitton bag — luxury accessories and international fashion were very much part of the uniform.

A sunlit alpine plateau filled with rows of deckchairs, where crowds relax in the snow beneath towering mountain cliffs. — **Deckchairs on the slopes, 1982.**

Light was one of Cortina’s great advantages. The Dolomite region enjoys more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year — something Shawn points out made it irresistible to photographers. Here, holidaymakers bask in that light, reclined in deckchairs — rays over runs.

A busy snowy village street scene, with people in winter clothing, umbrellas raised, and several figures wearing fur-trimmed coats and boots. — **Shopping on Corso Italia, 1982.**

Yeti boots and fur coats were a mainstay of Cortina’s city centre in the early 1980s. Shawn describes the main shopping street as a key stage in the social ritual and where retail therapy solidified itself as part of the alpine routine.

A snow-covered alpine town centred around a Baroque church, its bell tower rising above rooftops with mountains in the background. — **Piazza Roma and the Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo, 1982.**

At the heart of Cortina sits the Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo, opened in 1775, its bell tower added in the 1850s and still ringing with its original 1857 lead bells. Shawn explains that many Italian church bells were melted down for munitions during the First World War, but these were spared after Emperor Charles I of Austria was moved by their distinctive sound.

Cortina will welcome the world once more from February 6 to February 22, 2026, with skiing, ice hockey, figure skating, bobsleigh and more in the town with a long and stylish history on the slopes.

Discover the entire collection of unseen photographs by Slim Aarons in the Getty Images Archive here.

Florence is Country Life’s Social Media Editor. Before joining the team in 2025, she led campaigns and created content across a number of industries, working with everyone from musicians and makers to commercial property firms. She studied History of Art at the University of Leeds and is a dachshund devotee and die-hard Dolly Parton fan — bring her up at your own risk unless you’ve got 15 minutes to spare.