Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911-2011, is now open through October 21, 2018 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center. This free exhibition features nearly 200 photographs presented alongside a selection of costumes, illustrations, magazine covers, videos, and advertisements from across the history of genre, and includes some of the most well-known photographers, models, and styles across the decades. Drawn from the Getty Museum’s photographs collection as well as significant loans, the exhibition presents the work of more than eighty photographers, illuminating the innovative aesthetic and technological changes in the field.
The exhibition surveys the rich and varied history of modern fashion photography, exploring the ways in which photographers whose careers have been closely associated with the industry have shaped evolving notions of style and beauty. Outlining 100 years of fashion photography, the exhibition includes costumes, drawings, and a diverse selection of contemporary photographs that reveals some of the ongoing possibilities of fashion photography, and the digital tools that have reshaped the notion of what—technically and conceptually—a fashion photograph is.
The growth of street-style fashion blogs such as Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist (2005) and global internet picture-sharing applications such asInstagram (2010) and Snapchat (2011) are reshaping a rapidly evolving industry, providing aspiring and established fashion photographers with new outlets for their work.
By Kinya Claiborne, STYLE & SOCIETY
Photo Credit: Getty Center
