This is an essay on The History of Fashion Photography, written byKelly Nicola

Marie JohnsonEvery inspirational image that has been captured by the

cameracomes from the photographer, model and the look being in
perfectharmony. A good fashion image becomes great from the
model'sperformance in front of the camera.
There is a contradiction in fashion photography: In theory, its purpose
the same as that of a catalogue: to depict the clothesand help to
sell them. In practice however, fashion photography has been used as a
vehicle for self-expression by some of theworld's
greatest photographers.
- ORourke (2005)The history of fashion imagery can be traced back to the 18
th
centurywhere images of clothes were printed on magazines and then
handcoloured in Paris before being shipped to England for
distribution.Photography was later developed in the 1830s; however the art
of fashion photography became apparent much later. The daguerreotype,the
earliest photographic technique, could not be used for massprinting as it was too
slow. It was not however until further developments in half-tone printing; that
fashion photographs could befeatured in magazines; all this was within the first
decade of the 20
th
century.
In 1902 a photographer by the name of Alfred Stieglitz found an elite group
of artistic photographers;
Ksebier, Clarence White, and Edward Steichenwho broke away from the
pictorialists movement and started thePhoto-Secession from a studio in New
York. The Photo-Secession wasdevoted to showing photography as an artistic
medium alongsidepainting and sculpture. This helped Stieglitz to publish
Camera Work1903-1917` this led him to become the leading voice of a new
andmodern aesthetic within photography. This new and modern
aestheticembraced urban and industrial subjects with abstract composition,
andunsentimental approach, which would dominate the practice andcriticism of
photography in the 20
th
century. Fashion photographydeveloped along side the new range of picture
magazines, which oncelimited all the prints to be studio portraits of society
women in their finery; started to contain images of professional models taken
byprofessional photographers to liven up images and entice the reader.One
photographer from this elite group, Baron de Meyer made alasting effect with his
masterful lighting skills; his trick was to use asmany lights on the subject from all

angles, he also knew how to usethe setting behind the subjects to create a
Romantic style with the useof drapes, curtains and lamps. His biggest
accomplishment was hiswork he did with
Vogue
in 1914 when Conde Nast hired him. Another one of the inspirational
photographers from this group was Edward
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Steichen; he also worked with

Vogue
as one of the highest paidphotographers of the 1930s, even through
the economic depression,as there was a high demand for photography to
succeed inmanufacturing consumer desire through advertising.
Steichen closedthe New York studio in 1938 to embark on a new more
spontaneousphotographic phase.Inspired by de Meyer and Steichen, Cecil
Beaton had an extraordinarybreak into the world of fashion photography, during
his firstphotographic exhibition in 1927, in the Cooling gallery in London;
CecilBeaton was offered a contract with
Vogue
magazine. However in the1930s Beatons focus was on Hollywoods film
stars, creating asomewhat surreal ambiance of unused stage sets and
usingelaborated studio props, this seemed to change Beatons attitudetowards
the romanticism and indulgence of his earlier work. A dramaticresult to this
change led to the early termination of his contract with
Vogue
in 1938. It was in 1937 that Beaton was appointed courtphotographer to the
royal family and Beaton still remained as a fashionphotographer until the midfifties.

During the Second World War; fashion photography seemed to be puton the back
shelf with the main photography work focusing on thecoverage of the war and
the impact it had on life around the world; withsuch photographers as W. Eugene
Smith the magazine
Life
star photojournalist; capturing the war from the Pacific, Robert Capadramatically
capturing the D-Day landings and Cecil Beaton working asa war correspondent
for the British Ministry of Information. In 1944 a philosophy student

from Columbia University, New Yorkcreated a great deal of attention whilst

working alongside thelegendary art director for Harpers Bazaar Alexey
Brodovitch. RichardAvedon, the creator of the New Vision, achieved extensive
publicitywith his fashion photography, in which his visions were expressed
inlively and lifelike manner. His models of the of the fifties were asked: tobreathe
life into the fashion image. The way he inspired the girls tocreate characters in
front of his lens gave life to the 1956 film
Funny Face.
The fifties photographic shoot was a very different proposition tothe present day:

All the models are defined by the hair people and themake-up people today , (in
the fifties) you would bring your own make-up, as I did; a few hair pieces, your
own shoes, your own jewellery... (Dell'Orefice, 1998).
In the fifties the focus of fashion photography was closely aimed at themodel and
what name she was wearing rather than the thephotographer. The birth of
the supermodel arose and each decadefrom the fifties to the nineties, a new face
of fashion photographyemerged and have they have all earned their place in
fashionphotography history along side their photographers Dorian Leigh,
JeanShrimpton, Jerry Hall, Christy Turlington and Kate Moss.
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The fifties was also introduced to a subtext of sex and flirtation amongfashion
imagery, it was Avedon that said, You cant fuck andphotograph at
the same time, Sherwood (1998) when asked aboutthe sexual tension between
photographer and model in the fifties.The sixties saw the move of the fashion
and the photography industry,from Paris to London with the opening of new
boutique culturestargeting the youth of the swinging sixties. It also saw the
beginning of fashion's obsession with youth and photographers such as
DavidBailey and Terence Donovan, adding just a little element of sex innecessary
shots to attract a younger audience. There was a bigchange in fashion during the
sixties with gamine model being the firstto conquer the catwalk and
clothes being designed and made to fit theadolescent body. Young girls and
photographers from the sixties wereexposed a lot more than their predecessors,
due to the media's hunger for a scandal and the sixties fashion industry love
affair with drugs. Thewomanising fashion photographer became an icon during
the sixties.Fashion was on the move again in the seventies, and Studio 54 was
atthe height of that move, New York was the centre of the fashionuniverse.All the
major designers and photographers of the decade went toStudio 54 as it was the
height of glamour. The fashion andphotography world was turning more exotic
and dangerous, to reflectthis decadent era a more erotic type of model emerged,
Theglamorised representation of fashion was fuelled by cocaine, sex anddisco,
did nothing to deter the models. (Sherwood 1998) Towards theend of the

seventies the images seemed to capture the madness,darkness and unhappiness

of the time.The eighties fashion imagery was in devastation with AIDS
andaddiction from the seventies, with a number of photographers,designers
and models contracting the disease, so a more healthy andbody conscious
imagery put in motion, Calvin Klein and Donna Karandesigned a new range of
sportswear to entice the consumer to keepfit. This was the era of body fascism,
with only the classic all-Americanblue eyed blondes surviving.Bruce Webber and
Herb Ritts emerged in the early eighties with a newschool of fashion
photography. They Studied fitness, by centring their focus on tanned and
sculpted male and female bodies as well asopting for the aesthetics of outdoor
shoots instead of using studios.Grunge opened a new door to fashion in 1994,
the glamorisation of thesupermodel was gone. Kate Moss and Jodie Kidd, dubbed
by thepress as 'superwaifs', made way for a new breed of supermodel, it wasalso
an equally young generation of photographers such as Ellen vonUnwerth and
Corinne Day that helped the models carry off the imageof confrontational and
the anti-glamorous. The drug-related death of Kate Moss's boyfriend; David
Sorrenti and the London street bible
the
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face
as photographed by Corinne Day that led to her being the face of what the
British Tabloids and President Clinton named the industry of fashion photography
as heroin chic. The industry needed a changebut still wanted to keep the fresh
face of Kate Moss, it was the Britisheditor of
Harper's Bazaar
that

created a more glamorous and healthyKate Moss. With Moss's face on the cover
and her contract with CalvinKlein, it opened the door to more quirky English girls
such as StellaTennant.In today's fashion photography, success for models,
celebrities andadvertising company's all depend upon being well liked by the
masses.Their rise to popularity can influence society and change culturaltastes,
but it is often the fashion photographer who moves behind thescenes to make it
happen. Fashion Photography in the twenty firstcentury is much more than
the model, but more on fashion, clothing,cosmetics. The images today

are emphasized shots, elaborated posesand exotic backdrops to peak the

public's interest, increase sex appealand sell their final product in magazines,
televisions and even theinternet. Today's art of eye-catching imagery has
transformed fashionphotography in to an outstanding art form.
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Bibliography:Badger, G. (2007) The Genius Of Photography. London:
QuadrillePublishing Limited.Langford, M. (1982) The Master Guide to
Photography. London: RandomHouse.O'Rourke, A. (2005) History of Fashion
Photography. [Online]. Available
fromHttp://www.aidan.co.uk/article_fashion1.htm[Accessed 2009, October
18].Rosenblum, N. (1984) A World History of Photography. New York: CrossRiver
Press, Ltd.Sherwood, J. (1998) David Bailey, Models Close-Up. London:
MacmillanPublishers Ltd.(2008) History of Photography. [Online]. Available
fromHttp://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575589/History_of_Photography.ht
ml[Accessed 2009, October 18].
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