20th Centuary Photography...

Photography in the 1920s had a very particular theme, especially in the fashion world. Flappers were the main women who were photographed, used as models and inspiration to create the look of a typical flapper woman.

There were many photographers in the 1920s. Vogue and its rival Hapers Baazar were leaders in the field of fashion photography throughout the 1920s and 1930s. House photographers such as Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton transformed the genre into an outstanding art form. 

Looking into photography in the 1920s will help me to understand the styling, makeup and hair that was worn in this era. Despite my work being a new contemporary idea, its clear that I should look into the era in order to see the aspects that I can keep traditional, but make contemporary at the same time. Researching the work of these particular photographers helps my understanding:

HORST P HORST:

 Horst P Horst was a famous fashion photographer, best known for his photographs of women and fashion. He has many iconic photographs and his work was seen repeatedly in Vogue. His method of work typically entailed careful preparation for the shoot, with the lighting and studio props (of which he used many) arranged in advance. His instructions to models are remembered as being brief and to the point. His published work uses lighting to pick out the subject; he frequently used four spotlights, often one of them pointing down from the ceiling. Only rarely do his photos include shadows falling on the background of the set. Horst rarely, if ever, used filters. While most of his work is in black & white, much of his color photography includes largely monochromatic settings to set off a colorful fashion.

 CECIL BEATON

Cecil Beaton was an English, Academy Award winning, fashion and portrait photographer. Beaton is best known for his fashion photographs and society portraits. He famously worked for Vogue and Vanity Fair and became a huge influence to many other up and coming fashion photographers. He famously photographed the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana and many more, shooting some of the most iconic photos known to man.

He was a photographer for the British edition of Vogue in 1931 when George Hoyningen-Huene, photographer for the French Vogue traveled to England with his new friend Horst. Horst himself would begin to work for French Vogue in November of that year. The exchange and cross pollination of ideas between this collegial circle of artists across the Channel and the Atlantic gave rise to the look of style and sophistication for which the 1930s are known.

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary."

- Sir Cecil Beaton