Discuss How Fashion And Photography Inform Each Other - Essay Example

The Relationship between Fashion and Photography Introduction This paper examines the manner in which fashion and photography inform one another byreferring to the fashion/photograph collaboration between designer Issey Miyake and photographer Irving Penn, which clearly goes beyond commercial necessity. The aim/objective of this paper is to demonstrate that over the years, fashion and photography have continuously informed each other with practitioners from both fields benefiting from each other, not only commercially, but also creatively. Overview Fashion and photography have co-existed in a complementary sort of partnership over the years, particularly because practitioners from both sides have persistently established working collaboration since time immemorial, leading to business success of both industries. It is almost certain today that without the pervasive world of fashion, many photographers will be out of work because their work is inevitably intertwined with fashion and fashion events, which keep the photographer busy (Knight, 2011). Similarly, it is also evident that without the photographer, whose work in the fashion world is to spread the fashion through fashion magazines, the fashion designer will be thoroughly constrained due to lack of audience to explore his/her seminal fashion ideas. In light of all these, it is no wonder that throughout the world, fashion designers are increasingly collaborating with photographers for both creative reasons as well as for commercial benefits thereby promoting success of both practitioners in their respective areas. Reflection on Industry practices The intricate relationship between fashion and photography that is visible over the years as evidenced in seminal fashion/photography collaborations has inspired the growth of a distinct area of specialization known as fashion photography today, the most influential trend that is increasingly shaping the globalized world of fashion (Kelleher, 2013). Today’s fashion goes beyond the clothes people wear, to depicting unforgettable moments in life by liberating the mind and igniting ideas (Thomas, 2012); coupled with photography, fashion knows no boundaries as fashion photographers have the incredible capacity to get out of their way in representing marvellous concepts that are both fresh and extrinsic in their own right. Erwin Blumenfeld, the acclaimed photographer that revolutionized the fashion industry by presenting beautiful vivid imagery and bold models giving rise to an unusual and thought-provoking style, has been credited for being a pioneer of the revolutionary domain of fashion photography. The genre of fashion photography is purely devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, particularly for advertisements or for fashion magazines including the Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the Elle, among others (Kelleher, 2013). The field of fashion photography in today’s fashion world boasts of numerous remarkable fashion photographers such as Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, and Peter Lindbergh, among others. Fashion photographs reflect not only the moral, but also the socio-economic constraints of our time, something that ordinary or other types of photography do not, but most importantly, fashion photography is all about lifestyle, desire, fantasy, sensuality, unavoidability, and commerce (Werner, 2011). Additionally, a fashion photograph is about identity, individuality, and subculture, along with the desire to belong, to be the person wearing the clothes, or to live the life modelled in the image; essentially, a fashion photograph does engender a much larger discourse. Fashion is dynamic in that it cannot be contained in a fixated position due to its ability to push against and break boundaries; in light of this, designers and photographers are willing to experiment with new ideas every other day to come up with new and exciting concepts. Fashion and fashion photography collaborations allow the practitioners in both fields to indulge their creative capacity beyond imagination on so many levels, yielding fashion images that endear, challenge, and even engage individuals at various levels, making the genre of fashion photography unique and powerful. Fashion/photography collaboration The reciprocal relationship between fashion and photography is better exemplified through the designer Issey Miyake and photographer Irving Penn’s collaboration, one of the many creative marriages that have gone beyond commercial necessity to mutual creative respect that benefits both practitioners (Knight, 2011). Miyake is famous for his intricately pleated designs, the accompanying deft, and inventive cuts, while his relationship with Penn dates back to 1983 when he started taking shoots of Miyake’s clothes at a Vogue photo-shoot; having been thrilled with the fashion images of his pieces as seen through Penn’s lenses, these two practitioners started collaborating officially in 1987. The relationship between these artists, which lasted for about 22 years until Penn’s death in 2009, gave rise to a remarkable visual dialogue that was characteristic of their creative capacity, thereby enriching each other’s careers. This kind of relationship demonstrates clearly that fashion and photography do inform each other; while Penn’s lenses found their subject in Miyake’s creations, Miyake’s designs, on the other hand, found expression in Penn’s lenses. An evaluation of Penn’s photographs of Miyake’s designs reveals a whole journey, the long-time trajectory of the artists’ collaboration, from Miyake’s “Pleats Please” series that came out in 1993, to the 1999 collection of “A-POC” (A Piece Of Cloth) garments that were designed from a single piece of material (Lin 2001, p.72). Penn was allowed freedom to be creative with Miyake’s outfits in his photography, instinctively transforming the familiar lines of those designs to amazingly beautiful fashion photographs. The collaboration between Penn and Miyake led to the success of their careers in ways that were simply beyond the commercial benefits since they each inspired each other’s creativity (Knight, 2011); generally, photography enables the designer to lay out the subtleties of his or her work. For instance, through quality and handling of the composition, lighting, and depth of the focus, the photographer invites the audience or the viewer to pay attention on the fine art of fashion photography as depicted by his/her lenses rather than the deception. The results of the interaction between the photographer and the designer is always a colourful and eclectic fashion image that captures reality in unimaginable ways that command the eye’s attention to the details of the designs, and to the entire pieces. Miyake trusted Penn to bring out the creative aspects of his designs through fashion photo shoots, a goal that Penn executed with an effortless manoeuvre of his lenses, even to the surprise of Miyake because the shoots reflected Miyake’s designs in ways that he never would have imagined. The fashion photographers instinctively understand the creative visions of the designers and the specific goals they are trying to achieve through their designs, thereby working to help highlight them through fashion shoots. In this respect, the work of the fashion photographer is a true reflection of the designer’s creative capacity in originating the design since it gives emphasis to the critical aspects of the design by using models that are concomitant with the designer’s themes. In the case of Penn and Miyake collaboration, Penn often internalized and interpreted Miyake’s attempt to create a new profile by incorporating outdated Japanese aesthetics with modern cross-culturally inspired aspects (Knight, 2011). Miyake’s designs were characterized by the origami-enthused pleating alongside with the large capes and trousers and his favourite material was the gossamer-thin ruched material that sticks to the body but is not revealing. Miyake’s palette swung between monochrome and the exuberant neon, which reflects the diversity of the designer’s creativity that ranges from delicate silk tunics to warrior-like costumes; Penn was an exceptional print maker (OSullivan, 2005), and he enjoyed working across Miyake’s broad spectrum of palette, presenting the clothe designs in intense, visceral colours. In this respect, Miyake’s designs strongly influenced Penn’s photography since the fashion shoots were a true replica of the designs and the designer’s creative mind, understood, interpreted, and presented in print; this mutual understanding and instinctive knowledge that informed the collaboration between these two practitioners underscores the intricate relationship between photography and fashion. Penn took Miyake’s designs to higher levels through his photography since he enabled the audience to picture them through his lenses, which often gave the designs a much-glamorized appeal that was spellbinding thereby striking the eyes of the audience (Knight, 2011). Eventually, Penn’s photography brought out the life in Miyake’s designs by making them stand out as superior pieces that could not be overlooked anywhere, thereby promoting not only the business but also the career of the designer. Fashion photography is essentially an artistic collaboration that entails many aspects that go into the production of great fashion shoots such as hair, makeup, clothing and photography itself (Goldberg, 1993); coupled together, the rest of the elements, except for photography, elaborate a fantastic vision, that stands in contrast to the work of the photographer. The photographer plays a crucial role in authenticating this fantastic reality created by the fashion world, of beautiful women digitally enhanced and post-perfected to conceal every freckle, through his/her lenses to make them believable (Zurlini, 2009). In this respect, fashion photography is an intense activity that requires a lot of input and innovativeness from the practitioner, to produce lively shoots that are exciting and interesting to the eyes of the audience. As a serious art form that it is, fashion photography unleashes the imagination of designers in so many different ways thereby enabling them to display their creative ideas at different angles to the world, an aspect that is crucial for business in the fashion world. The designers’ work becomes the subject of a photographer’s images, thereby promoting his/her career as well; by doing Miyake’s photo shoots and experimenting with the designs, Penn was able to unleash his creative potential behind the lenses. Conclusion Ultimately, the intricate relationship between photography and fashion, as evidenced in the existence of numerous fashion/photography collaborations in the history of the world of fashion, points out to the symbiotic relationship between these two fields of practice. Whereas the fashion photographers cannot exist without the designers who produce the subject of their work, the designers, on the other hand, cannot function effectively without the help of the fashion photographers who present their creative designs to the rest of the world in print. In view of the successful working relationship between the designer Issey Miyake and photographer Irving Penn’s, which went beyond commercial necessity to mutual creative respect that benefits both practitioners, it is evident that fashion and photography can, and indeed do inform one another. The distinct field of fashion photography has risen out of the love relationship between fashion and photography that has developed over the years, which has been motivated by both commercial benefits and the creative potential for practitioners in the two fields. Fashion and fashion photography collaborations allow the practitioners in both fields to indulge their creative capacity beyond imagination, thereby giving rise to fashion images that endear, challenge, and even engage individuals at various levels, making the genre of fashion photography unique and powerful. References Werner, T. (2011). What is a fashion photograph? Available at: http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/2011/10/what-is-a-fashion-photograph/#.UuEL6RDfrDc Kelleher, A. (2013). Blumenfeld studio: The changing face of fashion photography. Available at: http://www.notjustalabel.com/editorial/blumenfeld_studio_the_changing_face_of_fashion_photography Knight, S. 2011. A happy marriage for photographers and fashion designers. Available at: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/culture/AJ2011101915163 Zurlini, J. (2009, May 07). Elaborate focus on fashion photography. Spokesman Review. Goldberg, V. (1993). Photography view; fashion imagery that can upstage the clothes. New York Times. Lin, V. (2001). Issey miyakes A-POC: A piece of cloth. Graphis, 57, 72-79. Thomas, D. (2012). Progressive dress; Issey Miyake has spent a lifetime pushing the limits of fashion. The forward- thinking designer explores whats next. Wall Street Journal OSullivan, M. (2005). Irving Penns creative process. The Washington Post. Read More