The first known fashion photographs date back to the 1850s, at the court of Napoleon III. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century, when fashion became accessible to a wider audience, that fashion photography became a tool for publicity.
If you hear “fashion photographers” and think of people taking pictures of celebrities in gowns, you’ll be surprised. Here are some who made history.
Alfred Stieglitz, one of the most iconic fashion photographers of the 20th century, said that in photography, there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why fashion photography is so captivating.
It is as much revealing as it is a source of escape for the viewer.
Fashion photographers are now as famous as the stunning women they capture in the most beautiful locations on the planet. They are dream creators, revealers of the mood of the times, merchants of fantasies. Or, as Oliviero Toscani puts it, “soul thieves.”
They know how to frame, prepare the light, attract skin, use the geometry of a neck, enhance a mole, and choose their model.
Karolina Kurkova, photographer Arthur Elgort, 2000.
Irving Penn, Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), New York, 1950.
American photographer Irving Penn revolutionized American fashion photography after World War II. He joined the team of the very famous Vogue magazine shortly before the 1950s. He is particularly distinguished by his style. The photographer only shoots in the studio, with no accessories other than the outfit he wants to highlight. And his models are none other than the very famous Yves Saint Laurent, Picasso, Woody Allen… He creates, in each portrait, a true intimacy with his model. This constitutes his true signature.
Gloria Swanson, 1924, by Edward Steichen
Steichen’s 1924 portrait of Gloria Swanson has taken on iconic status over time.
Crafted during the era of silent films, this image captured Swanson’s essence as a haunting, inscrutable figure, veiled by hazy light and soft focus. Today, she appears to peer from the shadows of a distant era. Steichen’s image retains elements of turn-of-the-century Pictorialism as well as the graphic precision of Modernism.
Erwin Blumenfeld – Doe Eye, 1950
Erwin Blumenfeld uses photoengraving and colorization techniques from the original black and white negative.
The model, Jean Patchett, has been reduced to a flat white background with perfect lips and a beauty mark.
Richard Avedon – Dovima with the elephants, Paris, 1955
Dovima and Richard Avedon met in 1955 to create an editorial for Harper’s Bazaar, a union that would go down in fashion history books.
Dovima was one of the world’s most famous models and one of the last of an era that represented haute couture and classicism.
An elitist world that began to change in the 1950s, as magazines began to prioritize girl-next-door looks over unattainable classical beauty, this editorial belonged to a transitional moment in fashion history.
By juxtaposing the strength of the elephants with the delicacy of Dovima’s body and dress—the first Dior gown designed by Yves Saint Laurent—the image also sets in motion a medium previously characterized by stillness. Avedon’s ability to capture the personalities of his subjects elevated this image from the fashion photographs of his peers, who often presented their models as mannequins, blurring the line between commercial fashion photography and fine art.
Helmut Newton – Le Smoking, 1975
The famous tuxedo that was part of Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall/Winter “Pop Art” collection in 1966.
Le Fumeur uprooted all preconceived notions of femininity, moving away from the little black dress trend to redefine sexuality as that which existed beneath the sharp contours of a well-tailored jacket and trousers.
Le Fumeur was worn by some of the greatest style icons of the 1960s, including Catherine Deneuve, Lauren Bacall, and Bianca Jagger.
Cecily Brown by David LaChapelle.
American photographer David LaChapelle is behind the famous 1995 Diesel advertisement of kissing sailors – one of the most prestigious fashion campaigns of all time.
Inspired by the power of Pop Art Andy Warhol, activist Diane Arbus, and even High Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, his photographs of influential figures such as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and Tupac are at once dark, exciting, and elegant, but also grotesque, chaotic, and exhilarating.
Norman Parkinson, Jerry Hall, Russia, Vogue.
Norman Parkinson is “the most unknown of famous photographers” as he himself liked to say.
Little known in France, this British photographer nevertheless revolutionized fashion photography in the 1950s to 1970s.
He is particularly recognized for having pioneered outdoor fashion photography.
A contrast to the studio shoots of his contemporaries.
In his photographs, women, far from being decorative objects, are active, sensual, and magnified by spectacular settings.
For example, Jerry Hall, Russia, Vogue (1975), which is one of his most famous works, shows a model on a pedestal, in a red swimsuit and high heels, about to dive.
His work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.
Peter Lindbergh – Birth of the Supermodels, 1988
Peter Lindbergh presents his simple photograph of future supermodels Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and friends to Vogue editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella.
Frank Horvat – Givenchy hat, 1958.
Frank Horvat was a pioneer in fashion photography, taking it outside the studio.
Horvat’s work in the fashion world also displays a photojournalistic eye.
His unique sense of storytelling, movement, and composition is inspired by real-life events and moments he witnessed on the street, on his commute to work.
His work has been featured in all the leading fashion publications of the past, but his ability to tell a story beyond beauty was recognized by the Magnum Agency, where he was a staff member from 1959 to 1961.
Simone D’Aillencourt immortalized by Melvin Sokolsky for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, July 1960
Irving Penn – Jean Patchett, Peru, 1948
Jean Patchett, one of the greatest supermodels of the early 20th century, claims that she made her big international breakthrough after completing the project Flying to Lima with Irving Penn in 1948.
Penn, whose work exemplifies his mastery of the crafts of fashion and portrait photography, was exceptionally gifted at capturing the soul of his subjects in his photographs.
Of Jean Patchett, he says: “She is not conventionally pretty but has the true beauty of a person of deep intelligence and sympathy, and everything shines through.”
A photo of Horst P. Horst used by Vogue Italy, May 1983. At Versace.
Mario Testino, Diana, Princess of Wales, for Vanity Fair, 1977.
Mario Testino (1954), the Peruvian fashion photographer is known for his advertising campaigns for Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana… but also for his Vanity Fair cover photos with Princess Diana.
Peter Lindbergh, Kate Moss for Harper’s Bazaar, 1994.
Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019).
Photographed exclusively in black and white. He rejected excessive retouching, preferring the natural beauty of women to the use of Photoshop. This earned him a reputation for the inimitable naturalness he brought to his subjects in his photographs.
He was the first to be commissioned three times to create the Pirelli calendar, and the first to stand behind the lens for a Vogue America cover.
All this under the aegis of Anna Wintour. So many “exploits” that keep him at the top of the fashion and celebrity worlds!
Steven Meisel, Vogue, 1990, Linda Evangelista.
Steven Meisel (1954) began his artistic career as an illustrator for fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick.
He drew inspiration for his creations from the visuals of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
After a few stints as a fashion editor, he became a photographer and was recruited by Seventeen magazine.
He went on to collaborate with some of the greatest artists, eventually becoming the exclusive cover photographer for Vogue Italia starting in 1988.
His photographs are distinguished by his love of feminine beauty and the sensuality it exudes.
Grace Coddington in a Missoni miniskirt and blouse, Hamburg 1967 by F.C. Gundlach.
An ode to Pop Art in F.C. Gundlach‘s photographs: among the models immortalized is also a very young Grace Coddington.
“It was 1967 and these photos marked an era.” Born in 1926, Franz Christian Gundlach was a German photographer, gallery owner, and collector.
His photographs of the Swinging Sixties immortalize not only the fashion of the time but also the main artistic movements, starting with the references to the works of Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann, notably in the 1971 photo.
An ode to Pop Art in F.C. Gundlach‘s photographs: among the models immortalized is also a very young Grace Coddington.
Linda Evangelista photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italy, 1990
An emblematic share by Gilles Bensimon for Elle, November 1985.
Gaspard Ulliel photographed by DANT studio for Dior Men, 2014
Rosemary McGrotha in Oscar de la Renta dress and Eva Wallen in Ungaro Couture dress, immortalized by Helmut Newton for Vogue, 1979
Christy Turlington photographed by Francesco Scavullo for Vogue Germany, october 1991
Kate Moss photographed by Paolo Roversi for Harpers Bazaar, 1993
Christy Turlington: the stunning American model in a photo published on the cover of Elle in December 1987
Christy Turlington for Harper’s Bazaar, december 1992
Dorothea McGowan by William Klein, Roma 1960.
Cindy Crawford by Ellen von Unwerth, 1991.
The muse of the nineties, Cindy Crawford, 1993, by Herb Ritts
Zendaya wears a Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda dress and a Bulgari ring, photographed for the cover of Vogue (May 2024) by American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz (born 1949).
Naomi Campbell photographed by Mario Testino, 2009.
Veruschka immortalized by Horst P. Horst for Vogue, September 1965.
Twiggy photographed by Bert Stern for Vogue, 1967
An evocative photograph of Melvin Sokolsky published in Harper’s Bazaar, October 1961
Jean Shrimpton immortalized by David Bailey for Vogue, january 1965
Dorothea McGowan, Simone d’Aillencourt and Nina de Voogt en Capucci and Fabiani dresses, by William Klein, Roma 1960.
Claudia Schiffer by Karl Lagerfeld
Claudia Schiffer .
The German model has long been the face of Chanel and the muse of Karl Lagerfeld. This famous advertising campaign, shot by the designer himself and dating from spring 1995, sees her as the protagonist.
Mary Jane Russell immortalized alongside Nettie Rosenstein accessories, Mabel Julianelli shoes, Hattie Carnegie necklaces, and Frances Denney lipstick by William Klein for Vogue, 1958
Monica Bellucci by Helmut Newton, 1993
Les photo sont magnifiques!
Merci!
merci
Magnifique documentaire. Malgré que je suis chromatophile, ma preferance va vers les photos en noir et blanc. La belle surprise est de voir la photo de Lady Di. Merci mon amie.
MERCI MA DOUCE