The 1990s witnessed a particularly vital and inventive period when the reciprocal influences of artistic and commercial photography effected a clear change in fashion photography. Fashioning Fiction in Photography since 1990 tracks two of the key routes taken by contemporary fashion photographers: the application of cinematic techniques, as seen in the work of Cedric Buchet and Cindy Sherman, among others, and the snapshot aesthetic, as exemplified by the photographs of Nan Goldin, Juergen Teller, and others. In order to address the concerns, desires, and realities of youth culture, photographers and editors expanded the narrative of fashion photography to depict lifestyles, rather than the clothes themselves.
All of the photographs in the exhibition were commissioned by and reproduced in fashion magazines or advertising campaigns. Fashioning Fiction includes over ninety photographs by thirteen photographers and is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue.
Organized by Susan Kismaric, Curator, and Eva Respini, Assistant Curator, Department of Photography.