History Of Fashion Photography

Fashion photography has been around for almost 2 centuries, much longer than we would have thought, being the extreme vanity we've developed in recent years and the massive revolution that i the fashion industry, always growing and evolving.

The first major forms of photography were born in the 1830's, each image was created using daguerrotype, this meant that it was impossible to achieve mass prints, this meant that photographs were still only for people with enough wealth to afford them and for documentary purposes. It wasn't until 1856 that the first example of mass production images with reference to the newly developed use of photography for fashion was produced, this was by a photographer called Adolphe Braun, who published a book of 288 photographs of Virginia Oldoini, the Countess de Castiglione, She was a Tuscan Noblewoman and the images were of her dressed in official court clothing, depicted at the court of Napoleon 3.

Photography continued to be a practice only for people with wealth and only on rare occasions were they produced on a numerous scale. It was not until the early 20th century that due to technological advances, photography was given the extra boost it needed for mass production, this came with halftone printing, meaning that it was now possible for prints to be made in magazines, books and newspapers. The earliest forms of fashion photography could be seen in French magazines like La mode practice. It was around this time that not only was the look of the model and clothing, but the photographers started to take a keen eye to the whole aesthetics of the image, focusing more so on the scene swell, like the backdrop and lighting of the image. From the 1940's onwards photographers such as; Irving Penn, Martin Munkacsi, Richard Avedon and Louise Dahl-Wolfe, it was photographers such as these that began to reshape and set new standards to the world of fashion photography. Fashion photography is always still developing and adapting to new fashions and stylings of a modern world. Fashion holds it place in many cultures all over the world in many different shapes and forms from fashion sense depicting social status, wealth and class. The industry is so vast and influential that people model their lives around fashion magazines such as Vogue and Elle, spending vast amounts of money to acquire the same look as the highly paid model with all their clothes supplied and funded, meaning the fashion industry can only inevitably keep growing and growing. As fashion has changed over the years, so has the way in which the clothing is to be photographically presented, some landmark photographers over time are;

Adolph De Mayer, 1868 - 1949

Publish Post The first fashion photographer, Mayer was hired by Conte Nast in 1913 to take experimental fashion images for Vogue magazine. With all of his images, his main traits were his use of a soft focus and intricate lighting, even though also technologically limited by the fact lighting was either natural or gunpowder flash. His images were of predominantly Aristocrats, actresses and society models in their own clothing.

Sam Shaw, 1912 - 1999

The next photographer to set the standards was Shaw, he started his career out as predominantly a documentary photography, gradually moving into the fashion industry. It was only when Marylin Monroe caught his eye in 1951 that his career and focuses were set on her life. Shaw's career began to completely revolve around the life of Marylin and he took many images of her throughout her short life, showing her many forms of wondrous beauty. It was under the influence of Shaw that the infamous scene in which Marylins dress is blown up in the film; 'The Seven Year Itch' was born.

Richard Avedon 1923 - 2004

Arguably the photographer that evolved the fashion industry, raising the bar after World War 2, Avedon  continued in his career a leading fashion photographer until his death. 'Dovima With Elephants' (Above) is by far his most famous images and is globally recognised as one of the most famous and influential fashion images today. One of the reasons the image we so successful, not only because of how amazing it is, but also due to the fact that it had never been done before, elephants had never been used or even thought of as a fashion accessory. This gave the images heightened advantage of a 'shock' factor. The modernisation that Avedon took to the fashion industry instantly made all predecessors images instantly 'classic' and outdated. The new era of fashion photography had begun, care of Avedon.   

Helmut Newton 1920 - 2004

 Helmut Newton, a voyeur and women empower, Newtons aim in the fashion industry was vastly different to that of anyone else. Newton took the clothing out of the fashion, focusing purely on the shapely, beautiful, figuresque female form. His images were predominantly nudes, suggestive, bold, swerve, all following that of female beauty and power. His scenes were mostly that of expensive hotels and street, chic capitals in Europe, each image suggestive and depicting a different situate, leaving the pre and post actions down to the viewers imagination. Most of his images are black and white, always using a very contrasting and grainy film reflecting the scenes that are taking place.

Annie Leibovitz 1949 - Present

Leibovitz work ranges vastly in all forms of styles and concepts, from typical fashion photography, portraying the necessities but with great extravagance, fine art stylings, in which beauty is portrayed but not in a typical light, the image may portray the love of one person for another or the beauty of pure elegance and grace, removing the viewer from thoughts of the typical idea of looks in beauty. Although much of Leibovitz work is in good nature and taste, unlike some of the work of Newton in which the viewer could take an instant offence to the scene they are seeing, it also isn't un-common to come across an image of hers that although maybe subtle, controversy is abundant. Leibovitz produced images of Miley Cyrus barely clothed, who at the time was a mere 15 years old, the images themselves are beautiful, elegant and intricate works of art, portraying the innocent beauty emanating from such a young woman, the images, taken in a completely innocent and harmless sense, purely for the sake of art became a subject of extreme controversy over the ethics of a 15 year old girl almost nude. Leibovitz works range across an extremely vast audience, covering all forms of fine art, fashion and commercial photography, working with giant companies and people of such high stature, such as Rolling Stones (and the magazine), John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Vogue and many others. Her work is in many galleries all over the world such as: The National Portrait Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, Corcoran Gallery Of Art, Palace Of The Legion Of Honour and have been presented in numerous exhibitions and galleries of such prestigious stature all over the world.