When Non-Fashion Photographers Dabble in Fashion... and Spark Joy

[alwaysademo]

Hi! I'd like to start this conversation because the more I observe fashion (magazines specifically) and its cycles, read the tidbits and insiders' stories, I notice how very often some outsiders come and shake the industry up a bit with their uncommon view. I'm talking fashion photography exclusively. Think Corinne Day and Bruce. Before he was unofficially knighted the establishment, Guy Bourdin had always injected his own peculiar tastes, so did Penn in his later life. Their non-fashion reality really informed their best fashion work. The most recent photographer of this breed I could really think of is Jamie Hawkesworth, who gave this.. hetero warmth (I can't find a different way to describe it) that make the girls and the clothes memorable and vibrant. So I'd love to see and hear what you guys think. I'd go first:

1/ That one time Phillip Lorca DiCorcia shot Comme des Garçons:


This picture mesmerised me when I first came across it. Maybe it was luck but Phillip really captured the spirit of Comme in such a setting, with the model at the edge of the afternoon light like that, the light gives the outfit the perfect silhouette and a touch of texture that really highlighted how out of this world she is... with normally dressed people in the bg in uniforms and the old lady with her curious look in the foreground. I like how introverted the model came across, the way she held her Comme almost as a defense mechanism or a safety blanket. It's non-confrontational. To this day I think of this picture when I think of Comme and not a Roversi whom I equally adore. He went on to shoot a few campaigns for Bottega and was featured a few times in US Vogue (notably for a MET-themed edit once)


2/ Joel Meyerowitz
He's mainly a Magnum kind of photographer, but this picture is just... it's not a fashion picture per se but it's so chic:


3/ Harri Peccinotti for Nova:
Most of them are without clothes but the pictures he shot easily serves as inspo for a house like YSL today. I think Henrik Purienne is inspired by him.


4/ Ugo Mulas shot jewelry for Vogue:

A life photographer, also he documented artists' working process. He's responsible for a very famous picture of Lucio Fontana slashing one of his canvases. This picture is so beautiful, I saw it in a terrible fashion book some years ago and went for it.


that's a few on top of my head... what do you guys think?

 

[nejtak]

I already love this thread and cannot wait to see more contributions. On top of my head Torbjørn Rødland, Martin Parr and Wolfgang Tillmans come to mind but they have done several fashion related work after all.

Alex Da Corte shot an uninspiring Prada bag campaign with Scarlett Johansson not too long ago but I don't think we need to see that one again...

Edit: There's also a timeline of Cindy Sherman's involvement with fashion here.

 

[alwaysademo]

Wolfgang! How can i forget. Kate and cauliflower was a stopper.
Thanks for making this a dialogue!

 

[blueorchid]

Hmm... interesting to consider Harri Peccinotti a non-fashion photographer. Maybe just because of my current 1960s/1970s Elle obsession, he shot a lot of editorials for them!!

 

[alwaysademo]

i did not know that. thank you!

 

[blueorchid]

There's Antoni Miralda, who started as a fashion photographer, too.

Antoni Miralda: No-Flash Fashion: Miralda & ELLE 1964-1971

Artist and restaurateur Antoni Miralda presents for the first time his 1960s fashion photography from Paris and London in a striking volume.

“Elle” magazine was directed by brilliant journalist, Hélène Lazareff, and artist director, Peter Knapp. It was at this time that Antoni Miralda photographed the beginning of the supermodels and the arrival of the sensational and radically different Twiggy.

Fashion photography occupies an unknown, but important place in Antoni Miralda’s career. This book allows us to understand how influential his work was at that time. After settling in Paris, the artist began to collaborate regularly with ELLE magazine between 1964 and 1971, working on contemporary seasonal collections linked to the art world. Among the many reports carried out by Miralda for ELLE magazine there is one that stands out for the notoriety of the model who stars in it, the iconic Twiggy.

Most images at the time showed models in studios, while Miralda took these models out into the street, into an uncodified and unpredictable space. Faced with the Grand Paris of Haussmann, of museums and imposing cathedrals, Miralda prefers the blind points of historicist urbanism; popular, uncliched places with a great human density.

No-Flash Fashion, with its contemporary design and its references to fashion magazines and archives, presents for the first time a detailed view of the undiscovered work of one of the most versatile and iconic artists of the twentieth century.
Click to expand...

amazon

 

[blueorchid]

i did not know that. thank you!

Here's an example of his work for Elle

Elle France - No. 1184 August 26, 1968
Models: Cathee Dahmen, Ines Lunardi, Unknown
Photographer: Harri Peccinotti







instagram.com/fashionmagazinesarchives

 

[alwaysademo]

I saved all these pictures somewhere, thanks for sharing!
From the look of the pics he well kept up with fashion though
Do you like Peter Knapp @blueorchid ? I find his pictures extremely chic.

Edit: just saw your reply. I like the first 4, but really his work for Nova is superior. It's gestural, not literal.

 

[blueorchid]

@alwaysademo I love Peter Knapp!

In fact, yesterday I received a book about I ordered him haha.

 

[alwaysademo]

@blueorchid please let me know if it's good!

Another person I think of is Vincent van de Wjingaard. He, of course, is primarily a fashion photographer, but the narrative is always idiosyncratically his. It's always the spirit of travel and discovery. This one comes to mind as a gem:



such a moment! too bad he doesn't seem to be working much these days.

 

[blueorchid]

Edit: just saw your reply. I like the first 4, but really his work for Nova is superior. It's gestural, not literal.

Oh yes, his work for Elle is much more commercial. To be fair, that editorial was from a collections issue. Most of the editorials in the issue were straightforward. 🤣

I wish Nova was digitally archived. It’s such a difficult magazine to even buy!

 

[alwaysademo]

Maybe when they see enough public interest it will emerge

 

[alwaysademo]

Yorgos Lanthimos for Gucci:



Janice Dickinson by Peter Beard:

 

[alwaysademo]

Marie Cosindas, she mostly took pictures of still lifes. Here she did a portrait of a lady wearing her fur posing with her dog.



and Guggenheim in her Fortuny:

 

[alwaysademo]

Ethan James Green's portrait of his dog has the chic aura that all his Meiselite pictures lack:



Ferdinando Scianna, he of course was famous for the Dolce/Marpessi shots, but this I think truly hits. For Yohji:


Hellen van Meene shot He Cong for Marni:

 

[ecnerretneerg]

Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm for Self Service and Purple

 

[blueorchid]

Marie Cosindas, she mostly took pictures of still lifes. Here she did a portrait of a lady wearing her fur posing with her dog.

She shot quite a few advertisements for Helena Rubinstein in the late 1960s/early 1970s, as well.


alovelyinconsequence

 

[THD96]

That one time when Valentino asked Steven McCurry to shoot for their Spring 2016 collection, and this is his first and only fashion work he ever did up to this day. And the result is magical.

This is still one of my favorite campaign/collection of all time.

 

[alwaysademo]

Oh thank you! I totally agree. This picture i saved and loved for a long time:



Thank you guys so much for sharing

 

[thiago:)]

I can think of Marilyn Minter, Cindy Sherman... Can we put Sarah Moon and Mapplethorpe to that list as well?