On the centenary of the fashion photography genre: the best pictures at the exhibition of the publishing house Condé Nast

The exhibition "Coming into Fashion: a century of photography in Condé Nast" demonstrates the development of the fashion industry from the 1920s to the present day. The publishing house Condé Nast was created by Conde Montrose Nast in 1909. It brought together the best fashion magazines of the world, for which legendary photographers worked.

The curator of the exhibition, Nathalie Herschdorfer, collected photographs and magazine pages from the Condé Nast archives located in New York, Paris, London and Milan. These materials are truly unique — here are the works of more than 80 famous fashion photographers, made by them at the beginning of their career.The staff of the American Photography Exhibition Foundation dug into the archives of the fashion publication Condé Nast and made a wonderful selection of materials from various magazines, including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour.

The curators of the exhibition "Coming into Fashion: a Century of photography in Condé Nast" were the Foundation itself and art historian Natalie Gershdorfer, who specializes in the history of photography. Fascinating portraits are now on display in Beijing.

Fashion pictures — glamorous, provocative, beautiful, complete, magical-have always been associated with the most prominent names in the history of photography: Cecil Beaton, Irwin Penn, Helmut Newton and Mario Testino.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, fashion photography has won the hearts of viewers. The famous American photographer Edward Steichen first took pictures in this genre in 1911. Since that time, fashion photography has become one of the forms of refined art.

Today, exhibitions of fashion photographers are held in the halls of prestigious museums. Their works are sold in galleries and auction houses at mind-blowing prices, and every year new publications are published dedicated to the best representatives of this genre.

Many famous masters of photography, editors and art directors started their creative career in the publishing house Condé Nast. Among them are Edna Woolman Chase, Diana Vreeland and Alexander Lieberman.

The founder of the company Conde Nast has always surrounded himself with talented people. He managed to unite fashion magazines in his publishing house, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour and others that are in the top list of the photographic avant-garde.

Condé Nast Studios in New York, Paris and London were laboratories of creativity, involving artists who are able to capture and show the public the value of high fashion.

The picture of five models in swimsuits who are in the shower is one of the memorable frames exhibited in honor of the celebration of the centenary of fashion photography.

A striking photo of Sebastian Kim, taken in 2011 for the issue of Teen Vogue, presents two very similar models in sports outfits. Girls with whistles have the same hairstyles and minimal makeup. The hands are decorated with massive bracelets.

In another impressive portrait, a model with porcelain skin tilted her head back, preparing to take a bite of grapes from a scarlet bunch. The provocative picture was taken by Sølve Sundsbø in 2011 for the magazine Love Magazine.

A glamorous shot of Guy Bourdain, made for the publication of French Vogue in 1955, shows a model posing in a white hat with a black veil.

Edward Steichen captured a girl in a coat with a fur collar for American Vogue magazine in December 1923.

The exhibition "Coming into fashion: a century of photography in Condé Nast" and a thematic publication about this event give an opportunity to see the works of real luminaries of fashion photography. In creative collaboration, Condé Nast photographers captured the style of the day and revealed it in innovative, non-standard ways.

Tony Vaccaro is one of the most famous photographers of the post-war period. He took a lot of stunning pictures of glamorous beauties of the last century.