FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY: ITS ORIGIN: ITS GLORY

Have you ever wondered how and when fashion photography started? Yesterday a friend of Lyons Humphrey Clothing asked while having a conversation (obviously about clothes, shoes and our brand- LHC). In my opinion the history of fashion photography is something that every enthusiast should be aware of. Here is something of how it all started.

1830: The First Camera

Fashion Photography has been in existence since the early days of photography. It was back in the 1830s when this method of photography was developed, but the concept of fashion photography did not exist until much later. For mass printing, the earliest renowned daguerreotype photographic technique could not be used. Fashion photos started appearing in magazines only when advances were made in halftone printing techniques during the 1st decade of the 20th century.

AND IT ALL STARTED…

The Countess in a photo by Pierre-Louise Pierson (c. 1863/66)

In 1856, Adolphe Braun published a book containing 288 photographs of Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, a Tuscan noblewoman at the court of Napoleon III. The photos depict her in her official court garb, making her the first fashion model. In the first decade of the 20th century, advances in half tone printing allowed fashion photographs to be featured in magazines. Fashion photography made its first appearance in French magazines such as La mode practique. In 1909, Condé Nast took over Vogue magazine and also contributed to the beginnings of fashion photography. In 1911, photographer Edward Steichen was "dared" by Lucien Vogel, the publisher of Jardin des Modes and La Gazette du Bon Ton, to promote fashion as a fine art by the use of photography. Steichen then took photos of gowns designed by couturier Paul Poiret. These photographs were published in the April 1911 issue of the magazine Art et Décoration. According to Jesse Alexander, this is now considered to be the first ever modern fashion photography shoot. That is, photographing the garments in such a way as to convey a sense of their physical quality as well as their formal appearance, as opposed to simply illustrating the object." 

Vogue was followed by its rival, Harper's Bazaar, and the two companies were leaders in the field of fashion photography throughout the 1920s and 1930s. House photographers such as Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen- Huene, Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton transformed the genre into an outstanding art form. In the mid- 1930s as World War II approached, the focus shifted to the United States, Where Vogue and Harper's continued their old rivalry. In 1936, Martin Munkacsi made the first photographs of models in sporty poses at the beach. Under the artistic direction of Alexey Brodovitch, Harper's Bazaar quickly introduced this new style into its magazine. House photographers such as Irving Penn, Martin Munkacsi, Richard Avedon, and Louise Dahl-Wolfe would shape the look of fashion photography for the following decades. Richard Avedon revolutionized fashion photography- and redefined the role of the fashion photographer- in the post-World War II era with his imaginative images of the modern woman.

In every sense, fashion photography is regarded as an art form and every field of communication seems to be influenced by it. Fashion photography not only portrays the beauty ideals of any given era, but also indicates the political and social climate of that time.