There are as many different style of fashion photography as there are photographers. On one end might be a straightforward documentary photograph of a garment on a mannequin. On the other extreme would be artistic shots where the clothing is barely visible. Some fashion shots don’t show clothing at all. Fashion nudes are very common in both editorial, advertising and at fashion shows. As a fashion model, it helps to be aware of the purpose and intended use of the photograph.
All fashion photographs are intended to facilitate commerce, i.e. the sale of garments either at the wholesale or retail level. In a nutshell, different kinds of photographs are the currency for marketing clothing. A picture is worth 1000 words, as they say. I am going to describe a taxonomy where there are three kinds of fashion pictures based on their intended purpose related to commerce. The three kinds of fashion photography are catalog, advertising and editorial.
Catalog Photography. The purpose of a catalog photograph is to show exactly what the garment looks like, often from the front and the from the back. A retail customer is going to make an immediate purchase decision and wants to know the exact color, fabric, any details like buttons, zippers, embroidery, decorations, &tc., &tc. and &tc. The price and discount will be displayed near the photograph. Nowadays a catalog can be a traditional printed catalog, or increasingly a web-based catalog for shopping online. A good catalog photograph will make the item look “sexy” and spur the purchase decision. In other words, close the sale. I will steal a line from the famous salesman Zig Zigler. The ABCs of catalog photography is “Always Be Closing”.
Advertising Photography. The purpose of advertising photography is to interest the customer in a designer, brand or store. The intention is that when customer goes shopping, she will seek out your brand or visit your department store. The purchase decision is not immediate so the details of a particular garment are not that important. There just needs to be a general idea or impression of the style. Most advertising nowadays takes a lifestyle approach to sell the customer. A photo shows a model, often a celebrity, wearing a particular style and the brand is linked with a desirable lifestyle. The person who decides what the advertising looks like will be the Art Director.
Editorial Photography. Editorial fashion photography is the most free spirited. The purpose is to attract and hold the attention of consumers to the publication which publishes the photograph or pictorial. The readership is sold to the highest bidder. In print, advertisers put their full page ads right next to the editorial content. In so-called “new media” like in web-based magazines and blogs, the ads are the little text links to sponsors or the banner ads that are ubiquitous on web pages. So editorial fashion photos can be anything and everything. Fashion editorial doesn’t even need to show any garments–so-called fashion nudes are very common, especially in Europe.
In the realm of editorial fashion, there are no boundaries, photography can be abstract art and even pornographic photographs. As long as it attracts your target demographic, anything goes in editorial photography. It is really up to what the editorial staff wants to publish and how they wish to position their publication in the marketplace. Both the old media (print) and new media (web) are competing for the attention of often fickle consumers. Without an audience, those publications will wither and die. So expect to see boundaries pushed as far as possible.
When creating fashion photographs, it is important to know how the photographs will be used to get the best results.
