German fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, credited with inventing the concept of the supermodel in the 1980s, has died aged 74, a message on his Instagram account said on Wednesday.

Born in 1944 in German-occupied Poland, he is seen as the creator of a style of naturalistic fashion photography that showed women without heavy makeup and is known for famous images of Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington.

German daily Bild quoted him as having told the newspaper in May: "Nothing is more beautiful than photographing the women you love. I was really in love with each of my supermodels."