Fashion's image : the complex world of the fashion photograph

This chapter surveys the recent history of fashion photography and provides an introduction to current scholarship and scholarly debates on the topic. It argues for the centrality of the image to fashion and explores the changing world of the fashion photograph. Drawing on Roland Barthes’ two distinct representations of the garment - image clothing and written clothing the author provides a close analysis of the street style fashion photography blog, The Sartorialist. The unclear status of fashion photography as art is also explored. The question of what a fashion photograph is – its ontology – is a key concern. Traditionally a commercial image created by professionals in the service of the fashion industry, fashion photography now exists in numerous forms, contexts and functionalities. This has not altered its fundamental nature. Inventing something other, something new and the endless quest to imagine the future while creating desire for a soon-to-be-forgotten present, fashion cannot be understood without fashion photography.