LONDON, UK – Saatchi Gallery is pleased to announce Beyond Fashion as the major exhibition for its Summer 2024 season. The exhibition, opening to the public on 31 May 2024, showcases the work of acclaimed fashion photographers from around the world. The works demonstrate how fashion photography has moved past the simple presentation of product lines to reflect on the reality of our lives, to explore our aspirations and to push at the boundaries of creativity. Curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer, Director of Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, and produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, the exhibition will feature more than 100 photographs from 48 photographers.
Including works by Nick Knight, Peter Lindbergh, Viviane Sassen, Paolo Roversi, Miles Aldridge, and Ellen von Unwerth – as well as an exciting new generation of fashion photographers – Beyond Fashion celebrates the vision and creativity of these artists and image-makers, and documents how fashion photography has become a new and exciting visual language. It is presented during the milestone 40th anniversary year of London Fashion Week, an occasion to honour the entire community that drives innovation in the industry and beyond.
This major exhibition will be organised into four main sections: ALLURE, which brings together celebrations of timeless beauty; FANTASY, which pays homage to the creativity and inventiveness of photographers working in fashion; REALISM, showcasing artists working mostly in the street, playing at fashion’s intersection with the real world; and finally SURREALISM, which features the work of a new generation for whom fashion photography is about transformation, imagination, and magic.
Viewers will travel from the glossy setting of the photography studio to the grassroots of street photography and discover the vast and diverse forms which fashion photography can take. They will see some of the most iconic images, famous faces and dynamic brands in contemporary culture. From classic VOGUE covers to Victoria Beckham’s legs in Marc Jacobs’ shopping bag – this collection of works features supermodels and stars like Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Christy Turlington; designers such as Christian Dior, Commes des Garçons, Alexander McQueen and Valentino, and street style legend The Sartorialist.
A special feature of the exhibition will be a section dedicated to moving images – highlighting the importance of film in today’s fashion imagery. This will present the works of SHOWstudio, the website founded and directed by Nick Knight, one of the first and most high-profile image-makers to adopt digital film as a medium for showcasing fashion. Established in November 2000 as ‘the home of fashion film’, SHOWstudio’s innovative and ground-breaking projects have defined how fashion is presented via the internet. Having pioneered fashion film, it is now recognised as the leading force behind this medium, offering a unique platform to nurture and encourage fashion to engage with moving image in the digital age.
The exhibition concludes with an installation entitled Under Your Smell; a project that invites visitors to experience an alternative and dynamic way to engage with fashion imagery. The students of the Bachelor Photography of the ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne offer a visual interpretation of Jean Paul Gaultier’s perfumes. In a series of staged images, perfumes become the backdrop for stories of transgression and fantastical projections.
Throughout the exhibition run, Saatchi Gallery will present a number of Saatchi Lates from 6:30pm – 9pm on selected Fridays. Tickets include access to special Beyond Fashion-themed activations and workshops, the main exhibition, and ground-floor shows.
Nathalie Herschdorfer, Exhibition Curator: “At one time, fashion photography was perceived as limited to its commercial use. With the explosion of the internet and social media, the way photography is documented, consumed and shared has undergone a transformation. The emergence of a broader visual language has enabled a blurring of boundaries between editorial work, advertising and artistic expression within fashion photography. Nowadays, it is no longer regarded as a frivolous medium; it is elevated to the status of an art form, capturing the sustained attention of museums and galleries, auction houses and publishers alike. It is the art world’s rising star.”
Paul Foster, Saatchi Gallery Director: “The adornment of our bodies with colours, patterns, shapes, textures and materials has been a constant throughout human history. This exhibition showcases how the presentation of fashion continues to evolve and break new ground in an age of unprecedented image generation and consumption.”
Tickets start at £6 and are available to book now at saatchigallery.com.
Featured Photographers:
Miles Aldridge, Ayoto Ataraxia, Kent Baker, Michael Baumgarten, Olivia Bee, Blommers & Schumm, Koto Bolofo, Coco Captain, Elinor Carucci, Elaine Constantine, Maisie Cousins, Jack Davison, Jonathan de Villiers, Horst Diekgerdes, Zoë Ghertner, René Habermacher, Ben Hassett, Aimée Hoving, Ina Jang, Sebastian Kim, Nick Knight, Heji Shin & Kristina Nagel, Anaïs Leu, Feng Li, Peter Lindbergh, Glen Luchford, Erik Madigan Heck, Raymond Meier, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Hanna Moon, Marton Perlaki, Paolo Roversi, Daniel Sannwald, Viviane Sassen, Scheltens & Abbenes, Scott Schuman, Emma Summerton, Sølve Sundsbø, Juergen Teller, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Mario Testino, Willy Vanderperre, Ellen Von Unwerth, Ben Watts, Bruce Weber, Kiki Xue, Yelena Yemchuk, Txema Yeste.
Beyond Fashion has been produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis/Paris/Lausanne, in collaboration with the Saatchi Gallery, London. Previous venues of the exhibition include ArtisTree, Hong Kong; Shanghai Center of Photography, Shanghai; Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha; ALT. 1 Hyundai Seoul, South Korea; and IPFO House of Photography, Olten, Switzerland.