To mark the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week, the Saatchi Gallery is exhibiting the work of nearly 50 leading fashion photographers who have challenged and redefined industry standards, pushing the boundaries of creativity.
Peter Lindbergh, Ellen von Unwerth, Viviane Sassen, Paolo Roversi, Miles Aldridge, Nick Knight, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Juergen Teller, Mario Testino… The Saatchi Gallery invites us to a photographic feast with "Beyond Fashion." From the most iconic to the equally influential and innovative new generation, including Jack Davison, Kiki Xue, Hanna Moon, Erik Madigan Heck, and Koto Bolofo, this exhibition shines a new light on their vision and creativity, documenting how fashion photography has shaped its visual language over time. A genre and a discipline that today go far beyond mere commercial appeal and the promotion of brands, products, clothing, and styles.
IN THE MAKING OF FASHION
The exhibition, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer, director of Photo Elysée in Lausanne, and produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, is divided into four sections: Allure (a celebration of timeless beauty), Fantasy (a tribute to the creativity and inventiveness of photographers), Realism (street photography), and Surrealism (fashion between transformation, imagination, and magic). These themes offer a journey from the studio setting to the foundations of street photography, for an immersion in the
The exhibition showcases the vast and diverse forms of fashion imagery. Featuring over a hundred works, it highlights some of the most iconic images of contemporary culture, from Vogue covers and iconic Marc Jacobs campaign shots featuring Victoria Beckham's legs and head emerging from an XXL shopping bag, to all the other glamorous imagery on display.
Worn by the most popular supermodels (Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Christy Turlington). Not forgetting the anonymous people captured on the streets by street style legend Scott Schuman, behind The Sartorialist (blog and book).
FROM STILL IMAGE TO MOVING
A section is also dedicated to films and videos to showcase the importance of image animation in the fashion industry, including creations from SHOWstudio, a site founded by Nick Knight, one of the first to adopt digital film as a presentation medium. The exhibition concludes with the installation Under Your Smell. Students from the Bachelor of Photography program at the Lausanne Cantonal Art School (ECAL) invite the public to view, seated on enormous cushions placed on the floor, a visual interpretation of Jean Paul Gaultier's perfumes, which become backdrops for transgressive stories. "These days, photography is no longer considered a
"A frivolous medium," insists Nathalie Herschdorfer, curator of the exhibition. "It is elevated to the status of art, attracting the sustained attention of museums and galleries, auction houses and publishers. It is the rising star of the art world."
“BEYOND FASHION” SAATCHI GALLERY
DUKE OF YORK'S HQ, KING'S ROAD, LONDON (ENGLAND)
UNTIL SEPTEMBER 8, 2024
SAATCHIGALLERY.COM
