Fashion Photography

Photography is a form of art which creates still images. It has been playing a major role in the fashion world and is massively used in fashion these days. 
Virginia is considered to be the first ever fashion models. Virginia Oldoini was in the elite class in Italy and was the mistress of Nepolean III.  She was photographed by Adolph Braun And Pierre-Louise Pierson. She directed Pierson to help her create 700 different photographs in which she re-created the signature moments of her life for the camera. She spent a large part of her personal fortune and even went into debt to execute this project. Virginia being the very first model, she was a playing a major role to take these images as a photographer would do. Therefore she originated fashion photography. She had a very accentric style and as being so wealthy she had amazing and a vast range of elegant dresses.  

Particularly this image really attracted me because it has been photographed in a very quirky way. Its a portraiture pose but the face is hidden. The gaze of the eye does not compliment with the elegance of herself. But just to focus on the eye is interesting. More interestingly her signature style inspired the art world and besides that there's a sculptural representation of the image. But it does not have the same elegance and originality as the photograph does.

                             


Photography and Architecture

Lee Miller was an American photographer and model. She was involved in the surrealist movement in photography with Man Ray. This image is a beautiful creation by Miller. She's creating a silhouette where the body and the garment are not shown. But the shadow lies on a architectural feature which has beautiful drapery itself. Even where the shadow of the waist lies, further down it seems like the skirt pleats. The link between the two elements is complimenting each other in a very artistic way. 

Photograph of Eileen Agar, Brighton, England 1937

Another renowned female photographer is Louise Dahl Wolfe. She was married to Meyer Wolf who was a sculptor. She worked for Vogue and Harper Bazaar. Her signature style was environmental photography and the creation below is true representation of her work. In this image she collaborated with her husband by showing his sculptor the famous Night Bathing. Its a structured and well lit image. Both figures compliment each other in a very creative way. There's a link amongst them. The similar arm posture, the statue near to the camera and looking towards it, the focus is on the model figure in distance and she's looking over her shoulder and the reflection of the model in the water, all these details are well thought processed. Another image from Louise which has a similarity to Miller's above image. Here there's a link of the dessert drape and the drape by the fabric covering her face. And the shadow created by the figure enhances the drape visibility. 

Night Bathing - Louise Dahl Wolf - 1939

Louise Dahl Wolf 1940s

Line between Photography and Hidden issues erased

Corrine Day

Terry Richardson

Jurgen Teller

Technology like Photoshop revolutionised photography. The famous name in this field is Nick Night. He basically manipulated the images by using a computer software and made them as he wanted them to be. He certainly has a surreal element to it as well. 

The difference in the below images is clear. Here Night collaborated with Mercedes and Gareth Pugh. The car is like a machine and model is complimenting it by armour like garment. Pugh's garments are a representation of architecture. Body and machine are like transformers or some sort of like super powers.

                                                    

Modernism and Postmodernism

Modernism was an era after WWI. It was the new age. It was a subjective response to a subjective experience (Modernity). The characteristics were;

• Form followed function 
• Experimentation
•      Innovation
• Individuality
•      Progress
• Purity
• Originality
• Seriousness
• Historical styles followed
• Rules followed
• Excitement

The following example shows the modernism era in architecture and fashion.
Le Corbusier was an architect and designer famous for being one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. Villa Savoy summed up the five point architecture. He lifted the bulk of the structure off the ground, supporting it by concrete stilts. The open floor plan, walls and the yard were the next points. The fifth point was the roof garden. It was a functional design and there were no unnecessary elements to it. 
In this Calvin Klein show, women's home ready-to-wear designer, Francisco Costa  showed all about modernism. Fashions sophistication took on the style and dress. It was a monopolistic design. These designs were a true representation of modernism. It was about minimalism, function and originality. 

Postmodernism era started in the 60's and got a recognisable style in the 80's. It is the age of surrealism and form.

• Form over function
• Recycle
• Team work
•       Collaborations
• Mixing and blending different techniques
• Historical styles copied 
• Non-serious
• No rules
• Exhaustion

The Guggenheim Museum is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The curves on the building were to appear random. The architect said that "the randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light. When it was opened to the public in 1997, it was immediately hailed as one of the world's most spectacular buildings in the style of Deconstructivism. It has a structure that consists of radically sculpted, organic contours. Sited as it is in a port town, it is intended to resemble a ship. Its brilliantly reflective titanium panels resemble fish scales, echoing the other organic life. Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) and visualizations were used heavily in the structure's design.

This outfit is from spring 2008 collection of McQueen. The collection formed a wardrobe any drama queen would covet: Hitchcockian suits, ombre kimono dresses, and lace inserts abounded. As always, McQueen was daring with vertiginous Japanese geta-inspired sandals, rainbow prints, and face-covering masks. But my favourite had to be the phoenix motif, so appropriate because of its symbolism of rebirth. McQueen's designs were always over the top. They were more about the drama and from rather than their functionality. It was a great portrayal of surrealism. 
Personally i prefer post modern designs. The unusual form, the freedom to show yourself and the crossing the boundaries is only possible in post modernism. 

This example is great way to show the link of all the areas. Mondrian's modernism paintings became an inspiration for YSL to show in a post modern way. It has also a representation in an architectural form. The beautification of this piece is the geometrical shapes and the minimal colors used.  

Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter. In his Composition series he used a combination of black lines and patches of primary colours. The black lines are the flattest elements, with the least amount of depth. The colored forms have the most obvious brush strokes, all running in one direction. The white forms clearly have been painted in layers, using brush strokes running in different directions. The lines are relatively thin and they are gray. The lines also tend to fade to edges. The colours were in larger proportion than white. As the years passed thick black lines separated the forms, which were larger and fewer in number. He began extending the lines to the edges and he also began to use fewer and fewer colored forms, favoring white instead. Italian couturier, Francesso Maria Bandini, piggybacks YSL and takes Mondrian’s modernist masterpiece into the 3rd dimension.

Paul Curtis (Moose) reverse graffiti

Fashion Communication

There's a connection between fashion communication and street art in these images. Both have a similarity of being  publicly displayed as an street art communicating a message of their genre.

Fashion is communicated in different ways and it is connected to different art forms. As Jenny Holzer showed verbal messages in a visual way, fashion was communicated through huge screens on buildings to promote their garments. Holzer is mostly known for her large-scale public displays that include billboard advertisements, projections on buildings and other architectural structures, as well as illuminated electronic displays. Originally utilizing street posters, LED signs became her most visible medium, though her diverse practice incorporates a wide array of media including bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches and footstools, stickers, T-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, sound, video, light projection, the Internet, and a Le Mans race car. Whereas on the other hand there's a imagery of Sean John's garment. 

Graffiti/Street Art

It is writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to wall paintings. The urban graffiti is done by spray cans and evolves around hip hop culture. It is way to communicate but in a unusual way by using streets where thousands of people pass by everyday. It is a great way to show artists artistic side and putting across a message and making yourself visible in a public eye. 

Keith Haring in 1981 sketched his first chalk drawings on black paper and painted plastic, metal and found objects. He has a very naive style. His bold lines, vivid colors, and active figures carry strong messages of life and unity. Jessie J's recent music video for the song Domino, she is wearing in one of the scenes a graffiti style outfit. The background is the same style as well. It shows graffiti style like Keith Haring's work. It is showing the use of graffiti in the fashion aspect through a garment. 

                              

Another street art started in mid 1990's in Paris i.e. mosaic. Mosaic tile which has permanency as it is weatherproof and more difficult to remove than paper/paint. This might create even more vandalism on streets but its a piece of  art in my opinion. The pixel like tiles create an image that has been over exposed. The architectural and geometric shapes is inspiring. At the same time this kind of garments attract me very much. Pixels were the essence of the F/W 2011/12 of Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga for the brand Anrealage. The illusion of blurriness these pixels create and being curious about the image is beautiful.  

                   

llustrations Research