The most famous fashion trend of the era was flapper apparel brought to life by designers like Coco Chanel. Members of high society we perfect candidates at the time to be models, displaying their opulent lifestyles encouraging the middle class to purchase what these women are promoting. An extremely successful photographer at the time was Man Ray. His models general consisted of his lovers through out his career. In 1924 he produced one of his most famous photographs entitled "Violin d'Ingres (Biography.com, 2015). This particular piece has model Kiki de Montparnasse with her back to the camera. After development Man Ray retouched the photograph to make her naked back appear like a violin. At the time this piece was considered as a Surrealist image, now it applies to fashion photography as well. His success in the industry continued with his career influencing many photographers to come.
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Man Ray, Kiki de Montparnasse, Violin d'Ingres, 1924.
These industries continued to grow in success. In the 1940's and 50's many of the iconic fashion photographs were produced that change the way photographers create images now. The decades were known for their beautiful glamour models, what is considered classic American beauty today. During this time models like Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Bettie Paige rose to fame. All of which were considered desirable at size 10. Models like Marilyn began acting as well, she is now an icon of the decade and was famously photographed by Bert Stern in 1962, shortly before she died. (Stern, 1993).
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Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe, The Last Sitting, 1962.
Independent women instantly became role models and had a great influence on consumers. In the 1950's most women looked up to the style of Grace Kelly. She had a timeless, elegant lifestyle and sense of fashion. Opulence and glamour was a big trend but the industry began to become highly sexualized with the introduction of pin up girls and the new interest in lingerie.
