New forms of a dress
And where the previous generation of visual icons such as Nick Knight, Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindbergh, Ellen von Unwerth and others set a new bar decades ago and still are, a new generation of photographers, Blommers and Schumm, Solve Sundsbo, Daniel Sannwalkd, Coco Capitan, Viviane Sassen and Erik Madigan Heck, are taking the lead and shooting fashion and beauty in such a way as to challenge the standardized ideals of fashion and beauty.
They reject the notions of the hyper-sexualized body and celebrity driven fashion visions that represented the naked consumerism of the 2000s. Their fashion subjects are distorted and twisted, and the clothing has become a form of draping rather than dressing. Such a visual evolution has been mirrored by the rise of designers such as Demna Gvasalia and stylists such as Lotta Volkova across brands like Vetements and Balenciaga.
Ultimately, as clothes horse has become character and the body has gone from being prop to plot detail, fashion photography has become a lens through which to see new ways of thinking about and discussing race, politics, gender, age and more.
Handpicked by curator and art historian Nathalie Herschdorfer, Beyond Fashion at ArtisTree in Taikoo Place, Hong Kong, features 100 of the finest photographic fashion works by more than 40 of today's leading photographers, along with a selection of films accompanying the still images. (Until Feb 24). (taikooplace.com)
- CDLP