by Editor Colin Dixon
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 17th of November 2023

'Nastya' by Oleg Bagmutskiy

Fashion photography online or in print, in magazines, books, advertising campaigns or billboards, rules everything around us, regardless of whether we are aware of it, and whether we like it or not. It expresses a vision of the photographer’s lifestyle, attitude, story of subjects, style, makeup, hair, and is aimed to attract attention. In this article we will overview how it all began and its journey through to today.

It is believed that fashion photography as a genre of photographic art was born in the 19th century, thanks to fashion magazines such as La mode Practique (1898), Harpers Bazaar (1867) and Vogue (1892). They used pictures instead of trendy prints on the pages of their magazines. The editors tried to beat the competition and draw the attention of the general public to the style and the selection of clothing that was offered to them. This helped the photographers, many of whom have become famous in the field of fashion photography through this sort of cooperation.

By the 20th century fashion photography had acquired a new status with the extraordinary rise of public interest in fashion but also in the photographers.
One of these being very influential.

Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
He brought fashion photography into the world of fine art.

Until the late 1930s the centre for fashion and therefore fashion photography was Paris. The French capital attracted famous photographers of the time from all over the world. After WWII started, fashion photography was picked up in New York City, where fashion magazines exploded onto the world market . Many of the photographers received notoriety, such as

Norman Parkinson (1913-1990)

Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971)
His work brought Harpers Bazaar to the fore front of fashion photography and influenced many photographers going forward.

Lee Miller (1907-1977)

Lee Miller is not only one of the greatest fashion photographers but also one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. She work and lived with the great creator Mann Ray and became a war photographer in WW2.

New designers emerged in the 50’s and 60’s, with new models setting new trends. This also meant that fashion photography drastically changed. By the mid-50’s, fashion photography was more spontaneous and energetic than in previous decades.

Richard Avedon (1923-2004)
Irving Penn (1917-2009)
Avedon and Penn are considered the most influential as they created a minimalist aesthetic type of genre.

The 1960’s brought a change reflected in society itself with the sexual revolution which brought a more candid look to fashion photography. The models looked more real and youthful and appeared more empowered.
This was personified by

David Bailey (1938-)

The social changes continued into the 70’s and we saw a swing towards Nudity Sexualization and Surealism.

This was due to the huge influence of

Helmut Newton (1920-2004)
Guy Bourdin (1928 – 1991)

By the 80’s, consumerism had rapidly grown, especially in the fashion industry with mega brands such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren etc. .The photographers of this time and going forward to today have become more and more commercial in their approach often with the models themselves being the stars. Now supermodels and superstars (Film, TV and Music) are as important as the fashion and the photographer.

Still the photographers become stars through their work, for example

• Peter Lindbergh

• Annie Liebovitz

• Juergen Teller

• Mario Testino

• Steven Miesel

Fashion photography is itself in decline as a lot of brands move more and more into video and online (Instagram).
Here are some of our great contributors to the 1x community (including the image on top of this article).

'Lady' by Dasha_and_Mari

'Poetry' by Dasha_and_Mari

'French beauty' by Peter Müller Photography

'Streets of Paris 2' by Peter Müller Photography

'DarknBright' by Ruslan Bolgov (Axe)

'Autumn in the City' by Ruslan Bolgov (Axe)

*** by Yuri Shevchenko

No name by Michail Potapov

'girls and grapes' by David Dubnitskiy

'Dancing with the wind' by Anna

'Poolside' by Colin Dixon