Storytellers, Image-Makers, Movers & Shakers: The Legacy of Fashion Photographers
From the refined studio portraits of the 1950s to the high-concept glamour shots of the ‘90s, frequent L’OFFICIEL contributing photographers Roland Bianchini, Patrick Bertrand, Hiromasa Sasaki, and Francesco Scavullo ushered in a new art form.
While the outfit at the center of every fashion photo is undoubtedly the protagonist, the art direction and technique behind the photo illustrates the garment’s backstory, builds a narrative, and creates a world inhabited by fashion dreams. Though studio photography up until the 1950s did engage with storytelling, from the 1960s onwards L’OFFICIEL began collaborating with a list of talented photographers familiar with the art of storytelling through the image. These photographers reimagined the new collections of ready-to-wear and couture from Paris, creating their own fashion fantasies in the pages of L’OFFICIEL.
In 1966, Roland Bianchini would begin his 13-year career with the magazine. While working as L’OFFICIEL’s primary photographer, he shot the magazine’s first Black cover model—Sandi Collins—as well as French icon Catherine Deneuve and countless fashion collections. The majority of Bianchini’s work took place in-studio, however, he transformed studio photography from the stiff, seamless portraiture of the ’50s into early renditions of the modern editorial.
Bianchini’s era predated the focus on celebrity, so instead he told the stories of the garments themselves. L’OFFICIEL photographers who followed Bianchini, like J-L Guegan and Rodolphe Haussaire, would continue his emphasis on the narrative, employing lighting techniques and using color saturation to create drama and convey emotion. By the 1970s, the editorial as we know it would begin to appear, and fashion photography as a medium evolved.
In 1968, 29-year-old Patrick Bertrand joined L’OFFICIEL, fresh off his work within the ye-ye music scene of the ‘60s. He captured intimate moments of iconic couples like Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg or Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, and produced countless record sleeves for French pop stars including France Gall and Marie Laforet. Bertrand’s documentary of ye-ye icons, as well as his initial career launch as a photographer with Paris Match in 1957, invited a keen sense of movement and personification into his fashion work. Bertrand’s work with L’OFFICIEL instigated motion in the fashion image, instilling a sense of liveliness into the magazine. He brought statuesque couture dresses to life, nudging the fantasy of fashion closer to reality.
Between the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a shift from the bright, bold silhouettes of the previous decades toward a more subdued, yet equally glamorous style. In L’OFFICIEL, this new era of casual elegance was brought to life by Hiromasa Sasaki and Francesco Scavullo. Known mononymously as Hiromasa and Scavullo, the two photographers captured the top supermodels of the decade in the finest designs by Gianni Versace or Jil Sander, and ushered in a new age of fashion photography at L’OFFICIEL.
Hiromasa began his work with the magazine in 1989. Prior to L’OFFICIEL, he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and later went on to assist such notable photographers as Denis Piel and Steven Meisel. Hiromasa’s skill lay in his ability to evolve the bold glamour of the ’80s into the minimalist, feminine allure of the ‘90s. The photographer captures his subject while adding a refined sense of youthfulness and attitude through easy movement and an inescapable connection with the model’s gaze. Hiromasa worked with the magazine as recently as 2017, producing cover photos of Jeanne Damas and Anna Cleveland for L’OFFICIEL Japan. Hiromasa’s decades-long oeuvre became a record of an era that saw some of the most enduring trends, which are now making their comeback at full force in 2021.
Perhaps the most acclaimed photographer to consistently appear in L’OFFICIEL, Scavullo brought his talents to the magazine throughout the 1990s. Born in 1921, the native New Yorker got his start as an assistant for the legendary photographer Horst P. Horst at the age of 24.
It wasn’t until the 1960s, however, that Scavullo made a name for himself. His photographs matched the dynamic energy of the concurrent women’s liberation movement. Scavullo’s early photographs celebrated the unapologetic sexuality adopted by this new era. By the 1970s, he was hanging out with the glitterati of New York, attending Studio 54 on the arms of Halston and Bianca Jagger. Scavullo’s ascendance was helped along by his gift for celebrity portraits, with such famed sitters as Grace Kelly, David Bowie, and Gore Vidal.
Scavullo’s stylistic approach to fashion imagery created some of the most iconic covers and fashion editorials in L’OFFICIEL’s 100-year history. His signature bright lighting techniques and sense of scenic depth allows viewers to easily settle on subjects like supermodels Claudia Schiffer or Elle MacPherson. With the assistance of his longtime collaborator and partner, Sean M. Byrnes, his covers of Shalom Harlow in Gianni Versace, Karen Mulder in Chanel, and Christy Turlington in Dior radiated the glamorous yet easy elegance of the ‘90s. In the studio, his pared-down yet beguiling aesthetic brought both beauty and fantasy to the printed pages of L’OFFICIEL.
Together, the different photographic styles and techniques of Bianchini, Bertrand, Hiromasa, and Scavullo create a fascinating record of the evolution of fashion imagery evolution in the latter half of the 20th century. As image-makers, they produced more than a documentation of a particular trend or style, but in fact pushed the boundaries of fashion and culture forward. These photographers have shaped not only the aesthetic of L’OFFICIEL, but cemented fashion photos as relevant expressions of culture and art.
