Seven Photographs that changed fashion

In our recent seminar we watched the BBC film about seven fashion photographs and photographers, that made the biggest impact on the Fashion industry. The film was presented and comprised by Rankin, a modern day influential fashion photographer. We are currently working on creating our own photo shoots, inspired by a vogue editorial, and other fashion photographers work. The film was therefore very relevant and interesting to me, and i felt i wanted  to write about it in more detail.

The first Photograph was Cecil Beaton. Cecil Beaton was most famous in the 30's, and really embodied fashion photography during this time. He was famous for his work in the successful film 'my fair lady'.

The visual of the film can clearly be seen in his fashion photography, which is elaborate and glamorous. His photographs where famous for radiating decadent beauty, and creating a glamorous, film like dreamworld, far from reality.

Beaton was one of the first fashion photographers who's style and set designs made the clothes the secondary aspect of the image. It was his distinctive style that drew peoples eye to the image, and then the clothes. 

The poses used in Beatons work are perhaps considered less daring and creative as the types of fashion stances we are used to today. The use of older cameras, and lack of technology was most probably the reason for this, however the more conservative nature of the time also plays a part. Rankin discovered how hard it was to use the cameras that Beaton would have worked with. Each Photograph appears through the lens upside down, which made imagining the end result harder. Also the lack of being able to quickly see the result of a photograph with out the lengthy developing process, meant that a photograph had to be just right, and composition and planning was absolutely key. In my opinion being a photographer in this time seemed a lot more intensive, and challenging than it is now. You truly had to be a visionary, and be a perfectionist as there was no major retouching after available.

Rankin considered this photograph 'Hat box' the photograph that best displayed Beatons style.

The second phtographer was Erwin Blumenfeld. Erwin Blumenfeld is mostly associated with fashion photography in the 40's. His work was extremely innovative in the movement to colur photography. He moved outside of the studio, and broke away from traditional poses, incorporating risks and movement.His exciting and different style, led him to have the most vogue cover shoots at the time.

Blumenfeld was well known for his photograph manipulations in the dark room. Long before Photoshop he was editing pictures in post production, and creating innovative and striking pieces.

This piece became one of the most famous vogue covers of all time, and is a great example of Blumenfelds passion for post production alterations. He brought colour to the photographs by painstakingly painting on the colours, which as you can imagine really made his images pop and stand out. This photograph was particularity intriguing as it was so simple and dramatic. Blumenfeld was one of the pioneer photographers for introducing a more abstract art quality to fashion photography. 

The third photographer was Richard Avedon, most famous in the 50's.  His work was all about capturing a moment, and representing excitement and youth, mainly in Paris and other lively European cities.

One of Avedons most famous photos was 'Dovima with elephants'

Although the model is very posed, unlike his usual candid style, the image still truly captures a single moment. As Rankin discovered when recreating the image, the use of real life exotic animals, is difficult to stage. Due to this it is clear that the image was defiantly taken at just the right moment, making is uniquely original, and a true dramatic spectacle.

The fourth Photographer was David Bailey. David Bailey was most influential in the 60's at a time where society was begging to move away from being so conservative. Bailey's work defiantly represented this movement, and pushed boundaries of what was socially except-able through a kind of sex innovation.

His photographs might not be considered daring at all compared to what we see today, however at the time this was the first real sign of lust and sultry poses and styles, that is common place today.

Baileys bold personality played a big part in his final images. He was known for having a more modern and casual style of taking photographs, where he would interact and often flirt with the models. I believe that this defiantly ties into the sexually charged nature of his photos.

It was this famous Bailey image, that was thought to best represent his work. The image encompasses movement, which was a big part of Baileys photographs, and also the lure and lust through the clothes and the pose.

The fifth photographer was Helmut Newton. Helmut Newton was most famous in the 70's, a time where society really began to loosen up as a whole. He took the sexual innovation that Bailey had started to a whole new level, and made sex the primary focus of most of his images.

Newton was largely into nude photography, and incorporated this in one way or another in most of his images. His photos all give of a kind of shocking and risky element of sexual ambiguity which was one of the reasons he was so successful and well known. The aim of his images where to push boundaries, and shock to draw attention, and it defiantly worked.

 This famous Newton photography 'Rue Aubriot' best showcases his style. He pushed gender roles with the use of an androgynous looking, strong woman and pose, and still brought in the sex statement of the nude model. The backgrounds in Newtons also seemed to usually contrast with the glamorous outfits or poses.

The sixth Photographer was Guy Bourdin, who was also most famous for his work in the 70's. His distinctive style is one of the most copied out of all fashion photographers. He was known for creating very commercial style photographs, that had the feel of modern art. He used bright colours as a main focus, and more abstract poses.

Thanks to other pioneering photographers he felt free to incorporate sexual/daring elements to his images also. He was also known for giving his images a kind of dark/ mysterious quality, coming from a seemingly fun and energetic environment.

This image was the one chosen to best represent Bourdin's work, it was from a vogue shoot, and shows his bold style.

The final photographer was Herb Ritts. Ritts was best known in the 80's, for being one of the first mainstream fashion photographers, to really celebrate the male form, and turn them into the object of desire rather than woman.

He brought men's erotic imagery into fashion photography, which is common place now but was quite revolutionary at the time.

This iconic Ritts image 'Fred with tires' shows his introducing of male erotic imagery, and also his strong black and white style and use of extreme shadow.

I learnt a lot form the film about how the aspects of fashion photography we see today came to be, and how each photographer helped us get to where we are, and have the creative freedom that we do. I also realized lots of new ways that i can use in my shoot to make the images more interesting and effective.