Where would Paris be without fashion? What would fashion be without Paris? The two have been linked for centuries. Their histories are intertwined in dreams, with the glory of one reflecting on the other.
Photography often brought them together, using the Parisian setting to showcase the models of the great couturiers. At the beginning of the 20th century, when photographs were just beginning to be reproduced in magazines, the Seeberger brothers placed their models on racetracks, in restaurants and on the street. Here, poses were freer and more playful than in the studio, and the shots evoked an art de vivre, an attitude, a natural elegance, an insolence, suggesting that a dress was much more than a dress; rather, it was a certain way of being a Parisienne, free and alive.
The taste for Parisian exteriors has not waned over the years: couturiers’ creations are photographed in the capital’s most emblematic locations – in front of the Eiffel Tower, for example, or on the quayside at Place de la Concorde, or in chic settings such as Place Vendôme – or contrasts are played out between the sophistication of the models and the working-class Paris in the background, at Les Halles, on the Canal Saint-Martin or in the markets. Cartier-Bresson, Depardon, Charbonnier, Boubat, Dambier, Bourdin, Lindbergh, Testino and Newton, to name but a few, created a genre that has earned its place in museums and collections.
Across the ages, and long after they were taken, their images continue to make us dream. Paris Mode takes you on an eternal journey of fashion and Paris, through 100 legendary images.
Paris Mode Editions Parigramme 100 photographs Paperback with flaps €14.90
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