Fashion: Photography of the Nineties

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Fashion photography in the '90s can be roughly divided into the glamour and grunge schools, with the former drawing much of its inspiration from Helmut Newton and the commercial photographers of the '50s, and the latter dipping into the world of "art" photography for its references. In Fashion: Photography of the Nineties, edited by Camilla Nickerson (senior fashion editor at Vogue) and Neville Wakefield, the connection between the worlds of art and fashion is explored in a totally pictoral manner, dispensing completely with introductory essays or explanations of the choices of photographs and photographers presented. This approach is tremendously effective: the juxtaposition of full-page images from such fashion industry mainstays as Ellen Von Unwerth, Mario Sorrenti, and Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin with photographers known more for their interest in shocking, art-gallery images, such as Nan Goldin and Richard Prince illustrates well the extreme influence that such artists (as well as Larry Clark, who is not represented here) have had on commercial photography. This beautifully printed volume offers an imagistic history of the low-rent eroticism of the contemporary fashion-photo scene. While this look has been criticized as glamorizing drugs, in fact it seems here, when set alongside the overly made-up, perfectly posed models (without fat or pores) of the glamour scene, to provide a more realistic and attainable vision of beauty, and one that is no less compelling or erotic for it's portrayal of splotchy skin or imperfect forms.


From Library Journal
Despite the title, this is not a collection of recent fashion photography. Rather, it is a visual essay on the recent blurring of lines between commercial illustrative photography and fine art photography as well as on the state of fashion and its possible meanings within contemporary culture. More than two dozen photographers?from the well-established Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and Annie Leibovitz to the up-and-coming Jeff Burton, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Cathy Opie?are represented in the 231 pictures, usually presented as full-page bleeds. But the real "authors" are Nickerson, a senior fashion editor at Vogue, and Wakefield, a prominent critic of contemporary art. It is their selection and placement that result in insights about the discomfort and anxiety of youth and the arbitrariness of the traditional division of fashion and reality. An intriguing document of the most vital stream of contemporary art photography, this book belongs in all libraries collecting in that area.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


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Despite the title, this is not a collection of recent fashion photography. Rather, it is a visual essay on the recent blurring of lines between commercial illustrative photography and fine art photography as well as on the state of fashion and its possible meanings within contemporary culture. More than two dozen photographers-from the well-established Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and Annie Leibovitz to the up-and-coming Jeff Burton, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Cathy Opie-are represented in the 231 pictures, usually presented as full-page bleeds. But the real "authors" are Nickerson, a senior fashion editor at Vogue, and Wakefield, a prominent critic of contemporary art. It is their selection and placement that result in insights about the discomfort and anxiety of youth and the arbitrariness of the traditional division of fashion and reality. An intriguing document of the most vital stream of contemporary art photography, this book belongs in all libraries collecting in that area.-Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"


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