"The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion" is one of the exhibits currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum. Having seen the exhibit twice, I am struck with the power of the photograph(er) to tell a story--and to sell. I've known this. Now I've felt it, too.
For starters, the exhibit opens by making reference to Richard Avedon's iconic fashion image, that of "Dovima with the Elephants." You know the one! (When I googled "woman between two elephants, image," this is what showed up first.)
In the Met's show, the dress, the first designed by Christian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint-Laurent, is shown before two cutouts of elephants. The dress is simple and elegant. It is a beautiful dress. Placed between two live elephants, all of this changes. The excitement/danger quotient is punched up--big time. The feeling is one of beauty calming the beast, and the whole, including the dress, takes on the power of myth. It is thrilling.
Something similar happens with this elegant evening gown of white silk jersey and gold lame--by Madame Gres. In the photograph, the model is in a glamorous casino. Gaming supplies the excitement/danger here.
To my mind, one of the most beautiful features of the dress, the pooling of fabric on the floor, is omitted from the photograph. To look from photo to actual dress, back and forth, is to discover just how transforming the photograph is. The significance/power of the dress is enhanced by the surround.
Camera images invent realities that are obviously contrived. We suspend disbelief and the story becomes all. A sale is often the result!
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