Fashion photography

An exhibition running from 13th to 27th June 2011

Curated by =AlexandraB24

Fashion photography is a very well established fine art photography sub-genre and one which has an aesthetic all of its own.
At its basic, fashion photography simply focuses on the clothing and accessories worn by the model, its purpose being that of making the clothes coveted by the viewer. The model is there to enhance the clothes design, without too many distractions. At its most elaborate, fashion photography whilst still making the clothes and accessories central, through the help of exotic locations and by becoming more conceptual, transcends the clothes and achieves the status of high art.
Some of the best photographers of the 20th century made their name as fashion photographers and are regarded as masters of the photographic art. Publications such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar became 'the stage' for the very best in fashion photography, the so called high end fashion as opposed to more mundane catalogues.
In the 1920s and 1930s it was people such as Steichen, Horst and Beaton who dominated the scene, with a style that was focused on staging shots in a relatively natural environment.
From the 1940s onwards fashion photography's epicentre moved to the US, especially New York, which soon after World War II became an international centre for the arts. Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Louise Dahl-Wolfe are photographers that come to mind from the postwar period, together with Helmut Newton in Paris and John French in London, to name but a few.
The 1960s saw London exploding on the fashion scene with images of the swinging sixties captured by David Bailey and Antony Amstrong-Jones,  the Lord Snowdon.
Notable contemporaries include Steven Meisel, Annie Liebovitz and Mario Testino. Fashion photography keeps on evolving and every photographer gives it an individual feel. For example, one of Meisel's most recent shoots was inspired by the tragedy of the Mexican Gulf in 2010 with very moving images of the white haired Kirsty Mcmenamy covered in oil and looking like a wounded bird [link]
In sum, what makes fashion photography intriguing is the tension that exists between its pragmatic aim - to showcase the clothes - and the desire to take it beyond that. It is a most difficult balance to achieve: the clothes date the photograph and yet the photographer wishes to make the shot timeless, hence classic. Sometimes you will find influences from or allusions to recognisable master painters - it is indeed what makes fashion photography most exciting, providing you as it were with a sense of dejà vu and a double coding.
On dA fashion photography is well represented, beginning with our own collection here at #fineart-photography
Below is a small selection of some of the most fascinating fashion shots on this site. There is plenty more, I hope this will stimulate you to go and have a look for yourself.
Enjoy and dont forget to 'sign' the news article, leaving a comment [link]

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