Richard Avedon...Fashion

I love fashion. I think my love for it is somewhere between passion and obsession. I love studying the details of clothing, the way fabric drapes, the way a garment seems to come to life when a woman wears it...

And, I absolutely love fashion photography. The people who photograph it are artists just like the people who create the pieces. And the women who are the subject of the photographs along with the clothes are magicians and actresses all in one. The
International Center of Photography has an exhibit that goes until September 20th showcasing Richard Avedon's work.



Dorian Leigh, hat by Paulette, Paris, August 1949
© 2009 The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon (1923–2004) revolutionized fashion photography starting in the post-World War II era and redefined the role of the fashion photographer. Anticipating many of the cultural cross-fertilizations that have occurred between high art, commercial art, fashion, advertising, and pop culture in the last twenty years, he created spirited, imaginative photographs that showed fashion and the modern woman in a new light. He shook up the chilly, static formulas of the fashion photograph and by 1950 was the most imitated American editorial photographer. Injecting a forthright, American energy into a business that had been dominated by Europeans, Avedon's stylistic innovations continue to influence photographers around the world.

This exhibition will be the most comprehensive exploration to date of Avedon's fashion photography during his long career at Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, The New Yorker, and beyond. Working closely with The Richard Avedon Foundation, ICP curator Carol Squiers and guest curator Vince Aletti will present new scholarship on the evolution and extraordinary, ongoing impact of his work. The exhibition will feature more than 200 works by Richard Avedon, spanning his entire career, and will include vintage prints, contact sheets, magazine layouts, and archival material.

I'm heading over there next week to check it out. They also have a couple of other fabulous exhibits there this summer...



Veruschka, dress by Kimberly, New York, January 1967
© 2009 The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon is definitely my favorite but there are so many I love and admire...Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz and Herb Ritts...the list goes on and on...

Do you have a favorite fashion photographer?



Dovima, evening dress by Fath, Paris, August 1950
© 2009 The Richard Avedon Foundation

Today's Soundtrack:
Coldplay - Shiver