Marie Lise Gres with a Persian lambskin hat for J. Walter Thompson, London, 1964
In the 1950s, fashion photography was much more sedate and modest than it is today, with all the special effects, gymnastics and distortion that computer programmes and ever-improving cameras offer photographers.
In the immediate post-war period, fashion breathed a breath of fresh air (even if sometimes forced) into a war-torn Europe that was just beginning to emerge from the austerity of war. Christian Dior’s New Look in 1947 was both controversial (flared skirts? Lace? Corsets? We still have bread lines! – some said) as well as a revitalisation in society of femininity and the traditional female figure that had been lost in the midst of the war.
Photographers played as important a role as designers in this period, bringing images of new Parisian fashions to the masses through fashion periodicals and newspapers. They projected a lifestyle of affluence and romance that women – and by extension, the men who saw them – aspired to. Fashion was then, as now, a fantasy through which people escaped from their mundane lives.
John French was one of the first photographers of this era. Not only was he the first to introduce reflected light (surrounding his models with the soft white light that was his signature), he was also the first to really use newspapers as a medium for printing fashion photographs.
Anne Gunning in Digby Morton’s Tudor-style black and gold coat worn with Rudolf’s Henry VIII beret, London, 1952
John French’s photographs were always deliberately elegant, extremely well posed and immaculate. Unlike today’s fashion photography, French’s photographs are truly from another era.
Strapless evening dress, London, 1950
Born in Edmonton, London, John French initially trained and worked as a commercial artist, becoming a photographic director in an advertising studio just before the Second World War, during which he served as an officer in the Grenadier Guards.
In 1948, he set up his own photographic studio. Originally working with the Daily Express, he pioneered a new form of fashion photography suited to newsprint reproduction, involving reflected natural light and low contrast wherever possible. He also undertook portrait photography.
Barbara Goalen in a strapless evening gown by an unidentified designer, Covent Garden Station, London, 1954
“I love the fact that it brings an elegant touch to projection photography. As I don’t think I’ve seen this kind of style before, it’s completely new – related to my work as I couldn’t find any environmental art of deforestation that uses the human form mixed with projections. I also love black and white, although I don’t use this effect myself, I admire its sense of achievement and the way it compliments the image at the time in which it was made. Overall, the work (I think) is unique and adds a new layer to my knowledge of projection photography.”
John French.
Shirley Worthington in evening dress with matching ostrich feather stole, for Vanity Fair, May 1953
John French (1907 – 1966) pioneered a new form of fashion photography suited to reproduction on newsprint, involving reflected natural light and low contrast wherever possible. He also took up portrait photography. French himself devoted a great deal of attention to the setting and posing of his models, but left the actual release of the shutter to assistants, including Terence Donovan and David Bailey.
Barbara Goalen in a Hardy Amies dress for the Daily Express, London, 1952
Susan Abraham wearing a John Cavanagh set, 1954
Cotton piqué dress and jacket with polka dots, Brenner. Model Anne Gunning, photographed by John French, late 1953.
Susan Abraham in a strapless evening gown by John Cavanagh, London, 1954
Barbara Goalen in a strapless evening gown by an unidentified designer, Covent Garden Station, London, 1954
A Horrockses cotton poplin dress, London, circa 1950s
Pretty white summer dress, for The Daily Mail, London, 1955
Susan Abraham, circa 1954
Helen Bunney in a black and white check dress by Blanes, Women’s Sunday Mirror, 1957
Barbara Goalen circa 1950s
Susan Abraham in a strapless evening gown by John Cavanagh, London, 1957
