7 Photographs that Changed Fashion

7 Photographs that Changed Fashion

7 Photographs that changed fashion is a documentary that was aired on BBC 4 where Rankin re creates 7 iconic images by fashion photographers that have shaped the fashion industry.

 

Cecil Beaton

Ceil Beaton was an English fashion, portrait and war photographer and did most of his photography work in the 1930's. One of his most iconic images is the White Panama Hat (1934) with the model Elsa Schiaparelli this image was for Vogue, where Cecil Beaton regularly photographed for. He captured his images on rolleiflex cameras which did not have a mirror inside the lens, so the photo had to be taken upside down and the final product would not have been known until the photos were developed, so this meant that Cecil Beaton was a highly skilled photographer. His photographs were inspiring because he had a very glamourous style, he played with quirky surroundings and background and also captured beautiful emotions in his photographs. The White Panama Hat photograph you can see an almost enigmatic look in the models eye as she looks away from the camera, this is a look that would not be caught with a modern day camera.

Erwin Blumenfield

Erwin Blumenfield was regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth - century he was best known for his fashion photography published in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar during the 1940's and 1950's, he created ground breaking work in which photographers had never gone to before, he photographed Lisa Fonnsagrives at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and captured something that would probably be illegal if it was done today. The image that changed fashion was his photo for Vogue in January 1950 where the face was so over exposed that the image almost looks Photoshopped, he did this by altering the chemical process in which he developed his photos, he then bleached out the image and painted over the top of it, you can see the tiny eyelashes that are painted onto the picture. His work was so ground breaking because he brought art to the fashion phototgraphy, a thing that had never been done before.

Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon was another photographer from the 1950's however he was American, his fashion and portrait photographs helped define Americas image of style, beauty and culture and also reflected the optimism of 1950's America he showed models laughing, smiling and often in action settings, a thing that hadn't been seen before as models usually stood emotionless towards the camera. His most influencial photo was Dovima with elephants in this striking image Dovima (one of Avedon's favourite models) is stood posing with 2 live elephants, there was so much drama in this picture, many people in the 1950's would not have come into close proximity or even seen an elephant. There is a huge contrast in the photo between the rough skin of the elephant and the smooth fabric of the dress designed by Yves-Saint Laurent for Christian Dior which made the photo so beautiful.

 

David Bailey

David Bailey was so inspirational during the 1960's that his work inspired a movie, his work combined technical ability spontaneity and also brought energy, charm and life to a photo-shoot. His work was also renowned for capturing what was happening in the 1960's 'swinging london' culture, he captured some of the icons of the time including Twiggy. His work broke down the social barriers of the time and injected a punk edge into fashion photography. One of the people that he was most famous for shooting was Jean Shrimpton who was his girlfriend at the time, the photographs he took of her were intimate and flirty he had a nack for finding natural beauty in women and photographing them in a minimalistic way using blank backgrounds and lighting effects.

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton was a German-Australian photographer, he is described as a highly imitated fashion photographer who's erotically charged black and white photos changed publications like Vogue. His work was based in the 1970's and this was a time of sexual liberation so there was a great deal of sex appeal in his work. His picture Le Smoking was taken in 1975 for French Vogue it challenged the idea of feminine beauty, a woman is pictured on the street in a tuxedo smoking a cigarette, so power dressing like the woman in the photograph would have been a massive statement at the time after the decade of mini skirts during the 1960's. One of the good things about Helmut Newton was that he celebrated powerful women and this in its own re invented fashion photography.

Guy Bourdin

 Guy Bourdin is a French fashion photographer who was known for his provocative fashion photographs he worked for Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and also did campaigns for Chanel. A striking thing about his photographs was that they were all shot in weird situations with unusual proposal of his images were set in weird situations with unusual props and were often highly saturated. Guy Bourdin was the first photographer to create a complex narrative in his photographs they are often sleazy and sensual but relied on the ability to shock, he was accused many times of objectifying women, but in videos that were released of the women working showed them having a good time. A great thing about Guy's work his heavy use of light, and also how he gets it right in every photograph.

Herb Rits

Herb Rits is an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black and white photography and portraits and was often inspired by greek sculpture he often worked with edgier designers and had a nack for making any subject look dramatic and interesting. His most influential photograph was Fred with tyres (1984) in this image was of a muscular man in low hipster jeans this image was for an Italian designer, and the model actually refused to wear the clothes that he was meant to, but the image was so striking that the magazine ran it anyway. Also during this era it was not usual for men to pose like this in photographs, it is on the border of either being too homosexual or too heterosexual so the image was very controversial.

7 Photographs that Changed Fashion 2009, television program, British Broadcasting Company (BBC 4), London, 14th January.

 

Unknown. (Unknown). Rankin: The 7 Photographs That Changed Fashion. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4161221/Rankin-Seven-Photographs-that-Changed-Fashion.html. Last accessed 8th October 2015.