Hello everyone! 

 

I am Anıl Uzun and today we will talk about a subject that you may think I am not interested in: Fashion Photography. 

 

I am here to prove you wrong.

 

In fact, fashion photography has been in our lives since we started to take photos with people in them. However, the birth of “fashion photography” as we understand it today dates back to the 1920s.

 

Commercial use of photography, not necessarily a documentary or an advertisement, has always involved fashion and celebrities; but the most important difference between early fashion photography and current fashion photography is marketing. Undoubtedly, there was not the slightest marketing concern in the works that emerged at that time.

 

The Development of Fashion Photography and the Introduction of Fashion Photography to Our Lives

In the 1920s, photographers started to give importance to fashion photography on the grounds that they could use their creativity more, because fashion photography, whose goal is to create images with an artistic effect, allows them to do works where they can use their imaginations rather than a classic product promotion advertisement. This resulting model aims to attract the attention of the consumer and leave a long-lasting taste in the memories, as well as giving hints of changing styles in clothes, poses or decor photos. In addition, it is claimed that these fashion images are an index of social, cultural and sexual changes in society, and even reveal the approach and attitude of society towards women in this context.

Fashion photography has entered our lives with the portraits of the aristocratic section in the most elegant clothes in Paris, which was considered the capital of fashion in those days, just as it is today. For example; David Octavius ​​Hill and Robert Adamson took a portrait of Lady Mary Ruthven, which is considered by some to be the first fashion photograph. Adolf de Meyer, one of the most important photographers in Paris and also known as the Baron, shot a photo of the French nobility Countess de Castiglione promoting her wardrobe. De Meyer later immigrated to the United States and became the chief photographer of Vogue in 1913, which is considered a milestone for fashion photography because magazines that used drawing or engraving instead of photography were introduced to photography from this moment.

 

In the 19th century, fashion photography, like photography in general, was under the influence of painting. Photography and drawing are used together. In this period, the commercial purpose of fashion photography began to emerge gradually and the first representative of this was Maison Reutlinger. 

 

London, Paris, New York and Fashion Photography: The Birth of Vogue

The separation of photography from drawing was thanks to the development of printing technology. In fact, fashion photography first started in 1881 in Paris, as might be expected, in studios that provided visuals for Parisian magazines such as Reutlinger Studio, Bissonaiset Taponnier, Seeberger Fréres. However, although Paris is the capital of the fashion industry in terms of both production and sales, the first place of origin of fashion photography is considered to be America.

 

The second half of the 1880s coincided with the formation of Vogue. The formation of this magazine, which was promoted from a high society newspaper to a magazine and adopts the principle of publishing elite and elegant images, is considered the true beginning of fashion photography as a style. Famous French photographer Adolf de Meyer was the first chief photographer of Vogue magazine, which had three editions by Condé Nast in London, Paris and New York, from 1913 until he transferred his work to Steichen in 1923. However, it should be noted that the first fashion photographer accepted by the authorities was Steichen, not Meyer.

 

The target audience of Vogue magazine, which was purchased by Condé Nast in 1909, was determined as the rich and elite. De Meyer, a well-known photographer due to his marriage to King of England VII Edward’s daughter, is exactly what Condé Nast is looking for his magazine. Condé Nast and De Meyer worked together until De Meyer switched to Harper’s Bazaar Magazine in 1924. In De-Meyer’s time, the audience began to be considered in fashion photography. Now, photographers have started to calculate what they want to make the viewer feel while taking photos and take pictures accordingly. For example, De Meyer aimed to draw the viewer into a fairy tale world in his photographs, and succeeded in creating dreamy scenes thanks to the silky material he put in front of the lens. This difference he created was effective in spreading his fame.

 

The pictorialist style in De Meyer’s photographs, namely soft focus effects, reverse light and fairy-tale composition, left its mark on that period and caused many photographers to be influenced by him. However, Edward Steichen, who replaced De Meyer in 1923 as Vogue’s chief photographer, completely eliminated De Meyer’s technique over time. De Meyer, whose techniques were behind the times and could not improve himself, was dismissed from his job at Harper’s Bazaar in 1932.

 

Are you wondering what awaits us in fashion photography during and after the Steichen era? 

 

Wait for next post ☺

 

Take care!

 

Anıl Uzun