Mario Testino interviewed by the FT.

He loves Peruvian food too and when I tell him I dont know much about it he gets excited. Testino is always excited; its one of his talents, and a big part of why he is so successful in the world of fashion and celebrity. He is relentlessly positive. His pictures of women make them look like ideal versions of themselves. He seems to give them a little bit of what they lack...
Hes always thinking ahead, always calculating. As a schoolboy in Lima, his best subject was maths. In fact, he was a bit of an outsider at school, not a popular boy. So he understands peoples frailties and that, I reckon, is the force that generates his work. When I started taking pictures, he tells me, I didnt realise what I was doing. When I think of it now, its a human thing like, if you see somebody in need, you go and help them. Or if you see somebody who doesnt feel so good, you try and cheer them up....
After leaving school, Testino studied law and then economics at the University of Lima. Then he moved to the US to study international relations at the University of California, San Diego. In 1976, he changed direction again, and moved to England and worked as a waiter. It was then that he began to take photographs, carrying his portfolio tirelessly around glossy magazine offices...