Fashion—a daily form of masquerade that communicates culture, gender, and class—has been a constant source of inspiration for Sherman and a leading ingredient in the creation of her work. Throughout her career the artist has completed a number of commissions for fashion designers and magazines, and this gallery gathers many of these works. Sherman’s fashion pictures challenge the industry’s conventions of beauty and grace. Her first such commission, made in 1983, parodies typical fashion photography. Rather than projecting glamour, sex, or wealth, the pictures feature characters that are far from desirable—whether goofy, hysterical, angry, or slightly mad. Later commissions resulted in more extreme images of characters with bloodshot eyes, bruises, and scars. These exaggerated figures reached ostentatious heights in a 2007–08 commission, in which fashion victims—including steely fashion editors, PR mavens, assistant buyers, and wannabe fashionistas—wear clothing designed by Balenciaga and ham it up for the camera. Sherman’s interest in the construction of femininity and the mass circulation of images informs much of her work; the projects that take fashion as their subject illustrate the artist’s fascination with fashion images but also her critique of what they represent.
Fashion—a daily form of masquerade that communicates culture, gender, and class—has been a constant source of inspiration for Sherman and a leading ingredient in the creation of her work. Throughout her career the artist has completed a number of commissions for fashion designers and magazines, and this gallery gathers many of these works. Sherman’s fashion pictures challenge the industry’s conventions of beauty and grace. Her first such commission, made in 1983, parodies typical fashion photography. Rather than projecting glamour, sex, or wealth, the pictures feature characters that are far from desirable—whether goofy, hysterical, angry, or slightly mad. Later commissions resulted in more extreme images of characters with bloodshot eyes, bruises, and scars. These exaggerated figures reached ostentatious heights in a 2007–08 commission, in which fashion victims—including steely fashion editors, PR mavens, assistant buyers, and wannabe fashionistas—wear clothing designed by Balenciaga and ham it up for the camera. Sherman’s interest in the construction of femininity and the mass circulation of images informs much of her work; the projects that take fashion as their subject illustrate the artist’s fascination with fashion images but also her critique of what they represent.
Chromogenic color print, 48 1/2" x 7' 11" (123.2 x 238.8 cm). Private collection. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 70 1/2 x 47 3/4" (179.1 x 121.3 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with the Alice Newton Osborn Fund, 1985. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 6' 8 1/2" x 61" (204.5 x 154.9 cm). Private collection, New York City. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 6' 5 3/8" x 58 1/4" (196.5 x 148 cm). Glenstone. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 6' 7 3/4" x 11' 4 7/8" (202.6 x 347.6 cm). Private collection. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 6' 3 3/4" x 45 3/4" (192.4 x 116.2 cm). Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New York. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 48 7/8 x 32 15/16" (124.1 x 83.7 cm). Sibley Family. © 2012 Cindy Sherman
Chromogenic color print, 67 x 47" (170.2 x 199.4 cm). Collection of John Cheim. © 2012 Cindy Sherman