Fashion as Photograhy

Lecture 11 - 13/10/11

Fashion as Photography

Catalogue/product photography- Illustration of the objects

Ghost mannequin- Disappearance of the body, Fashion still life

First permanent photographs-produced on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea, which he then dissolved in white petroleum.
Louis Daguerre, Boulevard de Temple, 1838/9-Refined the silver nitrate process. In 1833 Niépce died of a stroke, leaving his notes to Daguerre. On January 7, 1839 Daguerre announced that he had invented a process using silver on a copper plate called the daguerreotype; first-ever photograph of a person. In 1832, French-Brazilian painter and inventor Hercules Florence had already created a very similar process, naming it Photographie.

William Henry Fox Talbot

·       Invented a fixing process

·       Calotype – process using silver nitrate (as in black and white negative used in chemical processing today).

·       UK

Lady Alice Mary Kerr's Portrait of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, c.1870- English Poet and Writer

Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, photographed by Adolphe Braun, 1856- a Tuscan noblewoman at the court of Napoleon III.
In 1856, Adolphe Braun published a book containing 288 photographs of her so she becomes one of the first fashion models.

Age of the fashion magazine

·       Improvements in the halftone printing (dot) process means photographs can be reproduced in magazines

·       First ten years of the 1900’s

·       Before this drawn illustrations were used.

Edward Steichen photographs Paul Poirets designs for Art et Décoration, 1911-Early modern fashion shoot.
He was a photographer for the Condé Nast magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair from 1923–1938, and concurrently worked for many advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson.

Paul Poiret (1879-1944)

·       House of Worth (Charles Worth, father of haute couture)

·       Freedom from corsetry

·       Signature shapes- hobble skirt, harem pants

·       Clothing cut along straight lines

·       Influenced by antique dress- draping

La Mode Pratique, 1938

Vogue vs Harpers Bazaar

·       Leaders in fashion photography in the 1920’s and 30’s

·       Hoyningen-Huene for HB (photographs for Madame Vionnet)

·       Horst P. Horst for Vogue

·       Cecil Beaton for British Vogue

Hoyningen-Heune, 1931  Madame Vionnet

Cecil Beaton (1904- 1980)

·       British Vogue and Vanity Fair

·       Photographed and was a member of the “Bright Young Things” of the 1920’s/30’s

·       Photographed British Royals

·       Prolific diarist

·       designed sets, costumes, and lighting for Broadway

Vivien Leigh for Vogue, mid 1930’s

Stephen Tennant by Cecil Beaton- (21 April 1906 – 28 February 1987) was a British aristocrat known for his decadent lifestyle. It is said, albeit apocryphally, that he spent most of his life in bed.

Queen Elizabeth II in 1968- In the White Drawing Room in Buckingham Palace

Lee Miller (1907-1977)- Photographed by Steichen , American photographer and fashion model at                               age 19

War correspondent- Buchenwald Concentration Camp (1945)

Louise Dahl Wolfe

·       From 1936 to 1958 Dahl-Wolfe was a staff fashion photographer at Harper’s Bazaar.

·       From 1958 until her retirement in 1960, Dahl-Wolfe worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Sports Illustrated, and other periodicals.

·       “Environmental” fashion photography

Panorama of Paris, Suzy Parker in Jacques Fath Gown, 1953- 50’s supermodel

1940’s 50’s- In 1935, American Kodak introduced the first modern "integral tripack" colour film and called it Kodachrome, Cindy Sherman.
40’s 50’s hollywood glamour, retouching lighting- more to do with portraiture and celebrity

David Bailey (1938-) Mick Jagger- British Vogue

Twiggy, Terence Donovan, 1966

Richard Avedon (1923 -2004)

·       Harpers Bazaar till 1966

·       Vogue 1966 onwards

·       The book ‘In the American West’

Helmut Newton (1920-2004) Vogue and Harpers Bazaar- Sado maochistic element to some works, Treatment of the nude.

I-D magazine 1995 vs The Face 1997

Juergen Teller (1964- )

·       German photographer

·       Photos in The Face, Vogue

·       Has workred with Vivien Westwood and Mar Jacobs

·       Works with musicians

·       Annie Morton , 1996

Corrine Day (1965-2010)

·       British fashion photographer and model

·       Worked for the Face and Vogue

·       Vogue cover with Kate Moss credited with the beginnings of the trend for the ‘waif’ look.

Adobe Photoshop

·       Digital  image manipulation

·       graphics editing program

·       First launched 2003

Terry Richardson
Nick Knight

Fashion blogging

·       Democratises fashion photography

·       Anyone can write about/ photograph fashion

·       Eg: Tavi Gevinsons “Style Rookie”

Streetstyle Copenhagen

·       Ordinary people/style

·       Versions of the street style website from all over the world, Founded 2007

·       Various bloggrs/photographers eg Facehunter and The Sartorialist.

Poppy Dinsey, 2011- What I wore today- outfit for every day.

wiwt.com- Instant commercialisation

Exacitudes- Ari Versluis (photographer) and Ellie Uyttenbrock (stylist)

Neighbours Rotterdam 2008, Casettes gang, London 2008