Like fashion photography, the image of beauty has its own laws, its own requirements, its own stars. Between the dictatorship of perfection and the fight against stereotypes, increase discipline in total shocks, from Leica to TikTok.
To stage a theme about radiance, lifting, genderless perfume, “healthy slimming”, bare makeup, dry hair, blonde, natural, clean… without making the point clear or repeating, that’s also the challenge of beauty photography. often appropriated to fashion photography when the issues are very specific. “Even if their history began together, recalls Simon Baker, director of the European House of Photography, that is, in the 1920s, with the advancement of printing technology.”
Between the two wars, photography replaced painting and became as popular and modern as social media today. Artists took to it avidly, particularly the Surrealists, including Man Ray, who also worked for the press and “advertisement”. The photo convinces with its realism, evokes emotions, creates desire, influences the consumer and sells. “Magazine is an English term that comes from a French shop,” recalls Nathalie Hershdorfer, an art historian specializing in painting, in the collective work. 100,000 years of beauty (1).
In the video, the jury transforms for the Beauty Stars 2022 award
It was in the United States that fashion and beauty photography would explode, especially with Condé Nast and its magazines. fashion Where? Harper’s Bazaar. For decades, they would enforce the codes of feminine beauty, glamour, sublimated self-projection and bring iconic photographers Horst P. Newton, Jeanloup Siff, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino and many others… Along with the emancipation of women, photography creates an image of flawless plasticity and devotes a real cult to physical beauty. Beginning of non-stop debates.
Along with the emancipation of women, photography creates an image of flawless plasticity and devotes a real cult to physical beauty.
Women seen by women
Male photographers have been widely criticized for having a stereotypical vision of women, either treated as still life, fixed and distant, or hypersexualized. When it is not completely stylized, as in the case of Serge Lutens. It’s hard to generalize because everyone has their own universe, but “women have changed the way women are treated,” confirms Simon Baker, who has already brought young photographers such as Coco Capitan, Vivian Sassen and Marie Katayama to the museum. Some are as famous as their counterparts. Among them are Sarah Moon and her unforgettable blurred photographs for Cassarel, in the 1970s Dominique Issermann, Bettina Reims, Ellen von Unwerth or Inez Van Lamsweerde. But they are more and more talented, to offer their vision, more intimate, more personal, sometimes more daring. In any case, they undoubtedly contributed to the completion of a unique model.
Under the influence of the Surrealists, the emphasis is not on harmony, but on singularity
In the 1920s and 1930s, young girls of high society were photographed. Under the influence of the Surrealists, the emphasis is not on harmony, but on singularity. Salvador Dali even praises the “rather ugly” striking and strong personality. These muses are gradually replaced by professional and anonymous models, models of physical perfection, and each era flashes its guns. Suzy Parker, whom Christian Dior described as the most beautiful woman in the world, was the first world-famous supermodel. Since then, we’ve seen androgynous offshoots like Twiggy or Kate Moss, ultra-sophisticated two-meter girls of the 1980s, healthy anatomical bombshells like Cindy Crawford or Claudia Schiffer, as well as the sculptor of choice for her at the time, Naomi Campbell. – itself and not as a symbol of diversity…
And since everything is an eternal restart, the current muses come again from real life. Gone are the days when Isabella Rossellini was “thanked” by Lancôme at the age of 44, because she was considered too old. Senior models are a hit on social networks, and Ingrid Bergman’s daughter has come to the fore again. We no longer hesitate to show wrinkles, curves, imperfections, tattoos, play with genres… Some, like Dove or Gucci, have made it their brand. Even statutory L’Oréal is getting weaker and weaker. DDB advertising agency’s long-time art director, Monica Pubo, felt this aesthetic transition. “Today, during filming, the light is softer, more natural, without too strong shadows. A woman is more real, in motion, more embodied, less contrived, less retouched.” He has the right to smile again and is less fearful.
And since everything is an eternal restart, the current muses come again from real life
Make the invisible seen and felt
So what makes a good beauty photo? “The opposite of teaching, according to photographer Thiemo Sander, who works a lot Miss Figaro. Pretty is boring. Beauty is an intellectual as well as a visual creative process. And it’s very exciting. You have to create surprise, stop looking, become aspirational. Of course, a woman should be made beautiful, but also interesting.” And what could be more difficult than making the skin come alive, the smell of the perfume… In the studio or on the trip, behind the image on paper (less glossy) or digital, above all there is a team, a synergy of stylist, photographer, artist. between the manager, make-up artist, hairdresser, model.
“When fashion emphasizes the dress or the DNA of the designer, here the clothes are the light,” explains stylist Julie Chanute-Bombard, stylist, decorator, freelance journalist. For still life we choose specialist photographers and it’s a different story because the star is the product. An approach that is just as creative but closer to luxury craftsmanship.” The only certainty is that economic imperatives don’t always help photographers. Only big names can impose their vision, their pace. We used to produce four images a day. The photographer had time to rehearse, to wait, even to imagine something else, when something unexpected happens, which happens often.
Today we select screen models without seeing them and have to produce several series at once. Terry de Gunzburg, who worked as a make-up artist with Guy Bourdin, Bettina Rhames or Helmut Newton in the 1980s, recalls: luck, so we needed a hand with surgical precision, we did ultra-matte glowing faces, without powder, sequential transparency, Ferrari mouths, oversized eyelashes… And not a single hair moved during the shoot, otherwise . it was the catamaran. This allowed me to create my own products by inventing textures and effects.” Today, we can take a hundred shots in a row, we see the result immediately on the screen, we retouch it live on the computer and send it directly to the newspaper. “Technique is great, Tiemo Sander knows, but all the retouching in the world will never make a good photo.”
(1) Éditions Gallimard, with L’Oréal, box of 5, €152.50.
Source: Le Figaro
