There is room for everyone.
Andy Warhol
Every photo with a model comes with a price tag. Fashion photography is the clearest form of communication in fashion. Every photograph is special. It immortalizes a person, an object or garment in a personal way. One can share it with others and create a storm of reactions with it. Fashion photography is interesting material for fashion psychology. Consider the infamous advertising campaigns of Italy’s Benetton in the 1980s. Images or photographs have power. A kissing nun and priest. An HIV patient as a photo model. The right click of your camera could lead to great commercial success and/or controversy.
Photography used to be the job of professionals, but is increasingly being done by amateurs, thanks to smartphones and social media. This is a recent evolution. Photography is an art form in its own right. Looking at and seeing many photos can have an impact on our health. Social media has made photography more important. Comparing ourselves to stars or celebs can have a negative effect on our self-image and well-being. Instagram was originally an art photography medium that was in reach of anyone with a smartphone. It has evolved into a very broad platform for imagery. Photography plays with space, models, objects and still life. Photography is a game of eternal fame. With the rise of photography in the 19th Century, the first models also came into the picture.
Here is the history of fashion photography and the accompanying rise of the (top) model.
It took some time before photography became a well-known art form and was used for commercial purposes.
The first well-known photographer was Edward Steichen who in 1911 took pictures for Lucien Vogel, publisher of Jardin des Modes and La Gazette du Bon Ton. In 1932, Vogue had its first cover with a colored photographic print. Later competitor Harpers Bazaar followed suit. Vogue hired well-known and talented photographers in the first half of the 20th Century. Among these photographers were Meyer, Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst and Toni Frissell.
Fashion photography grew into a true art form. In the beginning of fashion photography, actresses or famous socialites were used as models. The first model was Marie Vernet, the wife of the English primal couturier Frederick Worth who had settled in Paris. The use of photographic models arose along with the rise of haute couture. Then came mannequins who were no longer chosen for their fame, but their beauty. Edward Steichen preferred to work with Swedish Lisa Fonssagrives as a model. Her hourglass figure matched the beauty ideals of Dior’s New Look in the 1940s-50s. Because of World War II, the center of fashion photography moved from Paris to New York. Two models Dorian Leigh and Suzan Parker were the first to start a modeling agency Pictures that made models more exotic and colorful. English miniskirt designer Mary Quant hired smaller models because of their slim legs. The first top model Twiggy (Lesley Lawson), became world-famous. From the 1960s, top models became so well known that they became iconic celebrities. Supermodel status really began with the generation of top models of the 80s and 90s with Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista being in demand by Peter Lindberg and Steven Meisel. Their faces were recognised everywhere. After this generation of female supermodels of the 1980s came the ‘kiddie porn’ or ‘heroin chick’ trend with top model Kate Moss, with her childlike, skinny body. Even later, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen and the Hadid sisters emerged. Today, we see size-40 models like Jill Kortleve appearing on the covers of Vogue Netherlands under the banner Change is here.
Belgian designer Christian Wynants talks about the current role of photography in a designer’s work: “Photos give an image of the times we live in. Fashion photography is an inspiration for me and shows the speed of fashion world inside and out. The future of fashion will be technology and speed. Since I graduated, the world has changed extremely fast. We now have an abundance or influx of images and a large archive. We also look at photos faster and this gives us a different view of fashion. I see every image as inspiration. Images are no longer printed in magazines, but appear on our screens of laptops or smartphones. This creates even more speed within the fashion world.” Images are a reflection of reality. Models and scenery play a role in the photograph. The more exotic, the more expensive a photo looks. It makes us dream of distant destinations. Fashion photography is a form of philosophy meant to express the photographer’s vision. He is the brain behind every image. Ideas for good photographs are endless. Fashion photography is the reflection of a certain feeling at a particular moment, captured in an image.
Models define our beauty ideal. With the rise of social media and associated phenomena such as bodyshaming and bashing, young people in particular sometimes feel very insecure, mainly because of other people’s reactions to their looks and clothes. The beauty industry never made so much profit as now and this is because women are simply very insecure about their looks. Fashion is not superficial, but very contrived. Female politicians are judged very strongly on their looks. Just think of Melania Trump or Ursula von der Leyen. Clothes have become symbols of power … British professor of consumer psychology Carolyn Mair believes that a strong belief about a garment can be powerful enough to influence how the wearer feels. Mair: “In that sense, clothing can help create a selffulfilling prophecy. So for example, if you think you are more productive in a blazer, you feel more productive and you may actually be more productive.”