Fashion Photography

Fashion photography is that area of photography that captures still photos of fashion items like clothing, accessories and even makeup. It began in the mid-1850s, a mere 20 years after the first photographs were made, with pictures of Countess Virginia Oldoini in the clothing worn at that time at the court.

After the first photographs of this sort were taken, the genre spread and developed in France as its own art form. Magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar began to gain fame and were known for using fashion photography. Since the beginning of the 1900s and until World War II, this type of photography thrived and produced names like Richard Avedon, Horst P. Horst or Irving Penn whose works are recognized by many enthusiast of the genre.

Fashion photography began its success due to the originality and pleasant nature it came with. In order to present articles of clothing pictures had to be taken, but a dress, a pair of pants or a hat on a flat surface with a simple background could not describe exactly how these would look on a real person. By photographing fashion items on models of flesh and bone, the clothing and accessories gained a new dimension and were more appealing to the eye. The object was no longer the main focus of a picture. Instead, the model came to accentuate the properties and qualities of the object making it more than that and giving it an increased value.

Today fashion photography features real people of different body types and sizes, but is mostly dedicated to models or celebrities. Fashion photography has become an industry by itself, producing millions in revenue, especially by using advertisements published in magazines, newspapers or on video. The biggest names in fashion use this type of photography to advertise their merchandise with the help of models and use different backgrounds in locations from the most common to the most exotic, and a wide range of themes. All of these techniques have been developed over time and still evolve to provide continuous originality.