One of the key events in fashion photography was the purchase of
Vogue by the American publisher Condé Nast (1873-1942) in 1909. He transformed a weekly society journal for the New York City elite (established in 1892) into the pinnacle of beauty and fashion.
The influence of
Vogue has been extraordinary with most of the best known names in fashion photography working for full-time or for individual assignments. The global influence was also assured by an early decision of Condé Nast to publish it in three separate editions in Paris, London, and New York. Over the last century it has hired many of the greatest photographers including:
The early style of
Vogue was heavily influenced by soft focused back-lit pictorialism and it's first fashion photographer
Baron Adolf De Meyer, hired in 1913, was a proponent of this both at
Vogue and when he moved on later to
Harper's Bazaar. This was the style used by other fashion photographers such as
Emil Otto Hoppé (1878-1972) and some of the early work of
Cecil Beaton (1904-1979).
| Fashion: Adolf de Meyer (1868 - 1946) |
There are parts of the life of Adolf de Meyer that are shrouded in mystery, his origins are not entirely clear, whether he was actually a Baron even though he referred to himself as one, and his homosexuality is confused by his marriage to Olga. The one thing that is clear is his pictorialist style of photography had a considerable influence on fashion photography in Vogue with the use of soft focus lens and lighting.
If we examine the images from 1900 they show the style of fashion photography that was common at that period - basically very boring. It was in the decade that followed that he really developed a different style as the later photographs show. He was a member of the Linked Ring Brotherhood that was promoting pictorialism through its exhibition and this connection gave De Meyer access to people of social standing and photographers of influence. The soft focused shots with refined elegance imparted a misty desirable world of upper class society.
His photographs were highly regarded by Alfred Stieglitz who showed them at his 291 Gallery in New York and they were included as photogravures in the seminal publication Camera Work - particularly Issue 40 in 1912. It is perhaps no coincidence that De Meyer was hired by Vogue the following year. | | [Checklist] | Click on image for details
[Copyright and Fair Use Issues] |
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Unseen Vogue: The Secret History of Fashion Photography
Robin Derrick (Editor); & Robin Muir (Editor) |  |
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People in Vogue: A Century of Portraits
Robin Derrick (Editor); & Robin Muir (Editor) |  |
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