From here to there.

Texto en español, aqui.

“At the same time, the European does not come natural to us. We are frustrated human beings. Everyone who learns to read in South America is ashamed of it, of himself, and of his parents. If wealthy and travels through Europe, spends in exuberance and might be driven to vice and luxuries to be let off his background: if a politician, we'll take to a extreme the European practices... We imitate everything and nothing is natural to us. A French would tell me, "But give me South Americanism! It will be a triumph if we presented the South Americanism in Paris...". I replied the South Americanism was Paris , but prostituted.”

—Fernando González—

I've been looking closely at the Latin American edition of Vogue, and have realized that I look at it without enthusiasm. It seems to me less than its sisters the European and the North Americans (even the Asians). Fernando Gonzales, surely would've said that it is a manifestation of our "Son of a bitch*" complex. I think that such complex is not foreign to the publication.

Likewise, the vision of fashion from Latin America appears frequently in the conversation in discussion groups in this side of the Western hemisphere where we live, dream, and work. We talk about what would be the right approach to the development of our industry within our deep-rooted intentions that we have to conquer or being recognized by the old world.

At the end, from the industrial to the editorial, I always arrived at the same conclusion: we can not uproot our processes in pursuit of the Americans and Europeans. It is an utopia to think this way or to think that with our resources we can achieve it. I am not saying let's throw in the towel; my point is that it can be done, it is not only a matter of recognizing strengths and weaknesses, but also of thinking out of the box, taking samples of what works in other areas to use as guides.

Evidently we have a lot to show, not only our talent but also our resourcefulness. In photography for instance, is amazing how much we can achieve on the editorial and commercial field with just one fraction of the budget that the big editorials and brands use.

Returning to the example of Latin American Vogue, I'd like to share the conclusion I arrived at: "I believe that the focus of this magazine, as the leader of our region, and many others that follow behind- is wrong." Having great American and European magazines, ours are doomed to be just followers. There is a saying in the marketing field that when a niche is saturated, we need to find a new one. Right now in the eyes of the Europeans, Asians , and even ours, Latin America has become the focus of inspiration, aside from being a growing universe of consumers.

Therefore, I think that some of the magazine leaders should focus more in our issues than in the European and the American fashion, that are now at our fingertips in portals and magazine stands, where I can find first hand the newest issues of the world's leaders in the industry.

Now we have the need to show what's happening here, in this corner of the world. Magazines like Latin American Vogue instead of taking a Mexican point of view approach for the rest of the continent, they should present the true information of what's happening in the region to us and the rest of the world.

A magazine that shows Latin America in Europe, is a nonsense way to show what we do.

_______________________

* "Son of a bitch is is the one who is ashamed of his own. I've been called rude for using this expression, but the thing is that my fellow citizens are like the black king who was angry because he didn't look white in his portrait."

Los negroides (Ensayo sobre La Gran Colombia) - Fernando González, 1936.

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About fashion stylists

Texto en español, aqui.

“Essentially what you’re doing is collaborating with the photographer to create an image that reflects the fashion you’re trying to capture and also hold a mirror  up to the zeitgeist at the moment.”

— Hamish Bowles —

The manifestation of the specialization of team members has historically been the result of the process of consolidating fashion photography and its professionalization. They assume the different tasks involved in the construction of a fashion image in the terms that this blog formulates in its name—The Constructed Moment.

Some authors, in their records, tell about how during the first fashion sessions, the models would do their own make up and prepare their garments. From this we can only assume that the first members of a shooting, back then, were the photographer and the model.

I still haven’t been able to properly document how the new pieces of this set up came to happen (and I’m grateful for any information any of you can give me). Asking other people about the topic for this entry [1], they tell me that hairdressers used to have recognition above make-up artists—and most likely, a little bit of more participation during the early stages of a shooting— as for the make-up artists, I believe that images in color had to generate the pressing need of incorporating a professional; someone responsible of making the skins of the models give a perfect registry on magazines.

As I understand, stylists also join shootings as the ones responsible for garments in a simultaneous way to make up artists. The acknowledgement of this task was consolidated by Vogue (led by Anna Wintour) when they published credits over the images on the magazine. In fact, magazines like i-D and Dazed advanced this process in the 80s and consolidated it in the 90s by naming the stylist as a part of the team that made the photographic content of the magazine a reality.

Nowadays, we can say that a minimal photo shooting has a photographer, a model, a make-up artists and or a hairdresser and last, yet more frequent and essential, a stylist. 

I say a ‘minimal photo shooting’ because it’s almost impossible to currently find a photo shooting that doesn’t have a stylist. In terms of fashion, the stylist is like the conductor of an orchestra. He or she is the one that interprets the sheet music in front of them, this understood in terms of fashion. Another way to confirm the importance of this role is by observing the prominence of some people in the industry: Polly Mellen, Grace Coddington, Giovanna Battaglia, Nicola Formichetti, Emmanuelle Alt, Anna Dello Russo and Edward Enninful, just to mention a few. These stylists share the same level of recognition as many of the most prestigious photographers, magazine’s editors, designers in the fashion world.

A good stylist is capable of giving a new vision to garments.

It is a common issue in fashion that brands, beyond the imaginary scenarios they produce, question the new meaning their products will elicit once under the editorial approach of photography. This contrast comes from the fear to misunderstand the message the brand wants to deliver; I personally think that there is no reason for the mistrust. If we are strategic for a moment, both brand and magazine will bond when there is a common target: they share the same audience; hence, they have to share some characteristics. When the target public of a magazine is not the same as the brand’s then, it could also be understood as an opportunity to reach a new audience. Another important fact is that an editorial leaves little room to be interpreted as a language for the published brands, since it is already a clear concept announced on the header.

A brand needs to know that a loan of garments means recognition by giving credit to the products. This can be convenient at times, and yet sometimes, it could be wiser not to do so, which led me to reflect about giving proper credit in magazines. A couple of months ago, while I was reading a magazine, and being impressed by some style I saw, I looked for the credits to know who had created it and was surprised by realizing there wasn’t any. The name of the make-up artist was there, but not the stylist’s.

To the magazines which are not yet giving proper credit to stylists, I’m telling you, it’s time to acknowledge this part of evolution in the industry. It is fundamental to do it, since this person, in the case of the best, is interpreting fashion and is capable of reading the aesthetic sensitivity of the ultimate consumer, who is the at the end of the day, the spectator of the constructed images.

[1] in conversations with William Cruz and Laura Echavarria

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Two Tales in One

Texto en español, aqui.

“As an addict to white backgrounds as I am, I find it bizarre that a gray background is never described as empty. It is hard to avoid that the graphic elements take control when using a white background. It is very difficult to give emotional content to something so intensely graphic and potentially cartoony that is overpowered by the rigid background; that is why its importance and the challenge it presents.”

— Richard Avedon —

“Sacred cows make out the best burgers”.

 — Rober Kriegel, David Brandt —

Much has been said about fashion editorials: they present trends, their origin goes back to photojournalism used as news photography in magazines such as Vu or Life, which are a means of expression for designers, stylists, make-up artists and photographers. In the same way, we talk about a minimum of pages, never less than 6 and 10 in average, without being obliged to stick to that number.

It is also clear that an editorial is not a collection of pictures about the same garment, and I wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention because in the past few days, as I was checking up sites where they receive editorials to publish, it caught my attention that many of them had notes about this, which got me to think that it is a common mistake they see in the material they receive for their consideration.

The fact that editorials present a trend sounds to me right in a general way, however, in a way, I think an editorial speaks about a series of garments put together by a common theme; trends can be the most recurrent of concepts but it can also be designers, a specific type of attire or silhouette, an everyday situation or any other concept that a fashion editor considers valid and communicable to put together.

Another thing that I consider is clear is that a fashion editorial or a history of fashion, the name you want to give it doesn’t matter, is the number one piece in the union of photography and fashion, or better put, of fashion photography. It is because of the abovementioned that a big part of the history of fashion has been taken into consideration from the photos published as magazine editorials and the photos that have been used as advertising get less attention.

Speaking of the photographic content, an editorial is, without a doubt, the format in which the style of photographers is best shown. They are the most creative and also the most repetitive; we have to say it, sometimes, at least in the photographic sense, you have seen every photographer in the world after seeing one or two of their editorials. We also have to say that not every photographer responds to a defined style when it comes to making their editorials, Patrick Demarchelier is an example of this. In his perfect way of executing and his conservative elements within fashion photography, he doesn’t have a degree of definition that would allow people to identify him in the same way people can identify some of his colleagues.

An editorial doesn’t only answer to the photographer’s aesthetic needs. It mainly responds to the needs of the means that publishes it. This is a line that is harder to perceive since it conveys different elements of photographic style, and styling besides having a limited access to rejected material and the reasons for not being published. A couple of examples of these are the documentary September Issue in the Unseen Vogue book.

An editorial converges not only a vision of fashion and a need for communication, but also a vision of what is photographic. These three elements come together to make an editorial come to life.

What is interesting about what I just mentioned is that if the first two elements are clear, the third can be handled freely; which means that it can work on any photographic concept without being unarticulated and it allows their development. This is why the language of photography has been able to evolve so freely. If we take a look at the photos that fashion photography has given us and keeping into consideration that the need for communication has evolved very little, we can see that apart from fashion itself —garments, make up, hair styles and even poses— the other big evolution is in the photographic sense; in the way of telling a story, its visual resources, its different contexts and its structure.

Just to be clear here, fashion history isn’t obliged to have a narrative per sei as its name suggests. It does tell a story but it’s not a story telling of facts, which is valid to use, but is not found very often. There’s always a conducting thread, well, there are two actually, fashion and photography, which is in most cases, an aesthetic proposal.

Let’s analyze the use of space. I have always found it particular that nobody complains about how repetitive space can become in photos taken in a studio. The same background doesn’t seem to bother anyone and becomes an attractive element instead, which makes relevant the quote by Richard Avedon that I used to start this entry a valid reflection.

However, when a real space becomes repetitive in several photographs, there’s always someone that thinks that the editorial lacks structure. And when you expresses the intention of making an editorial in two spaces that won’t necessary have a common theme, then you’re told that it cannot be done, as if the only option to make use of space within a photographic production and specifically in an editorial, means to go around in the location looking for different angles.

Well, today I want to bring to your attention two editorials (see below [1]). My purpose is to demonstrate that the aforementioned is indeed possible and to make a stronger statement, both are part of the Spanish Vogue Magazine from March 2014. Take a look at how not only the solution of space repeats itself, but also how the other space shares the story. In the White Masai, color is assigned to one of the spaces and black and white is assigned to the other. This isn’t mandatory as we can see in the other editorial in which it simply doesn’t take place. In the same way, the space of the window is repetitive and it’s not bad whatsoever.

And this is a must: since it is Vogue the one publishing it, it is now a legitimate solution.

May this be the moment to remind everybody that fashion photography has art as one of its inspiring sources and current art is about repetition; it repeats its ways relentlessly, or to the point where you can’t take it anymore. It’s your choice.

[1] I publish here the two editorials I mentioned. They are distributed in the same way as in the magazine, which I think is also important.

THE WHITE MASAI

Photographer: Cuneyt Akeroglu

Stylist: Belén Antolín

Hair: Angelo Seminara

Make-up: Lisa Aldridge

Model: Arizona Muse

 

 

 

 

 

MINIMUM EXPRESSION

Photographer: Miguel Reveriego

Stylist: Belén Antolín

Hair: Tamara MacNaughton

Make-up: Serge Hodonou

Model: Jessica Miller

128

It Could Be A Campaign Photograph.

Texto en español, aqui

 “My relationships with producers or photographers, these are relationships that took years.”

— Alexander McQueen —

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”

— Karl Lagerfeld — 

Since I’m not like many people in the industry, always avidly looking for the latest news on designers and their collections, there are things that take me by surprise sometimes. My thing is more on the photographic side, and yet, I’m not in one of those times of relentless searching in order to get to know new photographers and their works.

In other words: since I keep myself uninformed, or better yet, I’ve been more focused on text than images lately, there are things that take me aback, for instance: the pictures taken at the very polemic Channel’s runway on a supermarket. I must confess that after seeing its first images on the World Wide Web, I thought they belonged to their latest advertising campaign and not their latest runway. That’s not all, though: I must also confess that I loved those shoots from that very moment. (I’ve loved them so much that even though the event took place weeks ago and is no longer news worth telling, I think reflecting on it is still valid).

After realizing what the pictures were about, my admiration stirred towards a new kind: it is one of the best settings in runaways that I have seen lately, and I don’t mean budget-wise, I mean, it is almost unlimited and it shows not only in the wonderful way the shelves were stocked, but mostly on how they worked out the room; it allowed photographers and cameramen to take shots that were so good that were, in more than one occasion actually, better than those we get to see in different campaigns for fashion brands.

I must clarify that I’m not saying that runway pictures should be used as campaign pictures, although after seeing the quality of some of them, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

The point here for me, is to reflect on the commitment some of the organizers of a runway have in terms of increasing the possibilities for photographers and cameramen of making good images. I think, without a doubt, a runway is an event for the press and the main buyers. However, and this is something not everybody understands, a runaway is not only for the benefit of public relations with the media moguls sitting on the first row; it is also of great importance for the communication that one hopes to achieve. The quality of the photographs taken will be accompanied by the opinions of the fashion editors attending the event. We talked about something similar in a different entry on the blog: the low quality in photographs taken from the first row during a runway. (Link)

I’m sure there are events that will be advertised no matter the quality of the material they are launching. However, not all events qualify to be the exception; and, in many ways, the players within such runaway production will be, without a doubt, hoping to be outstanding and use the media on their favor; and yet, they will need great quality photographs of their event so that it is indeed superior to the media.

One thing is certain; a unique event developed from its early stages in a space and with a production like Channel and other major fashion houses have done differs from event in which everything happens in the same runway, an example of those would be our own runways in Colombiamoda.

Bottom line, the reflection is the same and it’s not new to this blog: sometimes I believe, and I have some first hand information on it by being around such events occasionally, that the runway organizers work under the logic that every person on the press booth is obliged to take the pictures and editors are to publish them as if there weren’t any technical and aesthetic standards to uphold and offer. I usually tell my students on this matter that it’s not the same being chosen by the local media for whom an event is mandatory news as it is being part of the international press, which has the entire world with material available to cover.

To finish, I leave for you, images from another runway, this one from Alexander McQueen F/W 2014 in which the photographs could also be used as a campaign image. At least they are better built than other constructed for this end.

At the end, I don’t it is a coincidence: both brands have an evident culture and great knowledge of how a photographic image works. 

127

A happy horror story.

Texto en español, aqui.

 “Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.”

— Alfred Hitchcook —

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.

— Alfred Hitchcook —

There are photographers who know exactly what they are doing and without a doubt, Steven Meisel is one of them. In the April issue of Vogue Italy, which we can call his home, he presents us with an extraordinary editorial called horror movie. However, when I started checking it out in websites like fashnberry.com, I noticed he has the most difference in qualification between the pubic and the editors of the site, by the time I wrote this: 57% and 90% respectively.

Beyond a shadow of doubt, we’re not looking at the same thing, and yet, I’m not really surprised; I even found the result of this qualification after making the decision of writing about this editorial in particular. It only confirms my first thought about it needing to be commented on.

This editorial isn’t traditional; and although it is on the same line of Water and Oil, or State of Emergency, it isn’t Meisel’s most revolutionary work. It doesn’t apply to the traditional solutions for a fashion editorial; however, for the visual solution of the image, it borrows from another genre, in this case, from the horror and thriller movie genre. Here is where Meisel shines again. It isn’t in the impeccable making, but in understanding that if you have your theme clear in your mind, the visual solution can come from anywhere.

Throughout the history of photography, we have been witness to the enriching of the genre[i] starting from other photographic genres themselves: journalism, erotic photography, nude photography and family photography, which have provided fashion photography with a language to the point that for many, it is hard to determine where one genre ends and the other begins.

In this case, the photographs as horror images are perfectly achieved, they do look as photograms from a horror movie. It only lacked the black and white and the blonde gal (something I would’ve loved to see) for it to have been part of a Hitchcock film. The whole idea of literally copying from the classical images of the genre is not necessary. The similarity to The Shining (Kubrick, 1980) is clear and though I can’t remember the other examples, I know I have seen them before.

This is fundamental when we create images within a specific genre: they have to look similar to something we have already seen, in that way we make it easier for the spectator to understand it. That’s how fashion photos are similar among them and only those who know the genre to perfection can change the rules and present us with something new, even at the risk of not being understood by the public.

Just the way Meisel did with his horror story.

P.S: Right before publishing this entry, I found a couple of articles about the editorial (link), in which it is seen as a minimal view of domestic violence. If we are to go on following this line of thought, then we'd have to say about the horror genre that it inspires the editorial, but it's not the editorial itself. I believe, and I put my foot down here, that the editorial was misunderstood. I also don't think that this is the genre to talk about domestic violence. 

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[i] Talking about classifying images in terms of genres seems obsolete to many, still, I consider that it is still fundamental when we talk about constructing an image more so at times when a lot of the aesthetic proposal has a strong component coming from crossing limits and re-contextualizing its use.

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