THE FASHION IDEA

There are many ways to formulate a fashion idea. You can look inside your life check your preferences in all areas and then look for the common thread. This is the way you approach life, this is your style of life so you can develop a personal fashion style in the same way.
Then tweak it so its sellable to people on two levels 1.for industry peers 2. for the fashion public
Giorgio Armani looks like his clothes and so does John Galliano and they select different photographers to photograph them.
No one copies, rather they ‘revisit’ or ‘reference’ a style and give it their own personal tweak with the aim of making it appeal to the present public
Heres a clip from the Washington post
"These are the kind of people who have more appearance – more observable data points – than other people. A tremendous amount of their work and imagination is funneled into the portion of their existence that is immediately visible. Some of them may be smart, clever, funny and wise, though these attributes are ancillary to the primary mission of looking exquisite.
To say that they "dress well" would understate the important roles of such things as hair, makeup, nails, fragrance and overall morphology.
To be an appearance-based person you have to understand that there are no unimportant parts of your appearance. Your entire look may live or die on the choice of a belt.
A fashionable person is like a fancy wedding on two legs: Everything must be just right”.
Hence the need for photogs to keep up to date with trends and the thinking of the people who wear them.This is where part of the idea comes from.
In a fashion picture everything must be right to appeal to that thinking.
But back to the idea. Some photographers photograph their own life and environment
Helmut newtons pictures were reference to his past in Germany, the decadence etc of the thirties given the Monaco money tweak and his preference for big women.
Terry Richardson is the ‘new’ Newton but theres no moneyed decadence in Richardsons pictures but the modern equivalent of sexual freedom with large references to his upbringing which makes for harrowing reading if you ever look it up.
Then theres lifestyle with all its references (at least for high end fashion) to cinematic ambiguity etc.
And finally the romantic, painterly, style, of Sarah Moon, Deborah Turbeville, Dominique Isserman and Paolo Roversi.
And of course every permutation of the above that you can think of.
But every notable shooter has his own idea,angle,and signature.Which will never come from simply copying magazine pages and styles if you want to take your pictures to a higher and different level because often the photographer doesnt know the idea hes trying to copy even though he likes the picture Obviously lots to choose from , you have to make your own decisions
No matter how good you can become we go nowhere unless we can attract the right interest of the people that matter either in our own area or better markets. The better market the better the idea has to be.There are hundreds of photogs who can copy picture styles if needs be.
The idea may be well understood by the photographer but is it embraceable by the non sophisticated viewer.
Theres no need to explain what the idea is because when the viewer embraces it they supply their own meanings in accord with their present life and desires.Good fashion photograph ideas are in accord with the viewers present life ,ideas and aspirations
eg the Galliano story from the Washington Post
"Talley tells the Galliano story. It's a tale of the power of the fashion press, and of Vogue magazine in particular. John Galliano a few years ago was a Paris designer going nowhere fast. "He was sleeping on a floor in a sleeping bag," Talley said. But Talley loved Galliano's collection. He went to his boss, Wintour. "I said, 'Listen, darling, this is it. This is the collection. This will take fashion to a new level.' " And Wintour said, "Go do what you have to do."
So Talley paid for Galliano to fly from Paris to New York. He put Galliano up in the Royalton Hotel. He took Galliano to a birthday party, thrown in Talley's honor, at Mortimer's. At the party Galliano met the Park Avenue fashion set, including, for example, Catie Marron, a Vogue contributing editor (and friend of Talley's) whose husband, Don Marron, is a big shot at Paine Webber. Sufficiently impressed, in January Paine Webber agreed to bankroll Galliano's collection. That enabled Vogue to feature Galliano prominently in its pages.
He became an international phenomenon. Talley says he did not "discover" Galliano, however.
"Talent is something you don't discover. You embrace it."
Ideas are one thing Embraceable ideas are another

Idea#2
Sometimes its good to reference non fashion sources. Theres less prejudice that way.
Eg http://www.marktucker.com/
http://www.marktucker.com/index2.html
http://www.marktucker.com/r_saltonsea/intro.html
In the above Tucker writes
Im trying to communicate …through the colour palette and lack of contrast
That’s his idea added onto his style.
Tucker is from Nashville. His pictures remind me of Wabi Sabi
http://c2.com/w4/wikibase/?WabiSabi which is an idea in itself worth exploring
although to some extent it has been done via Holga and LOMO photography
William Eggleston is from Mississippi. The father of saturated colour pictures of the banal and ordinary big influence on Jurgen Teller and in this instance Meisel http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/eggleston/eggleston_woman_on_curb.jpg.
From the idea here its easy to get to the idea here.
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/holmes/Images/holmes8-30-2.jpg "They look challengingly at you, a stranger without a clue how to behave. They inhabit this world, they belong here. Who the hell are you?"
Perhaps it can be summed up in the work of Edouard Manet
Heres a long but very valuable essay http://witcombe.sbc.edu/modernism/roots.html
Manet was updating with ideas but still referenced older styles According to Antonin Proust, the idea of the picture suggested itself to Manet when they were watching bathers at Argenteuil. Manet was reminded of Giorgione's Concert Champêtre and determined to repeat the theme in clearer colour and with modern personnel.
So we have the idea watching the bathers added to an older painting with its formality but with the intent of modernising or bring it up to date. A closer likeness of composition has been found in an engraving by Marcantonio nb bottom right hand corner
The result was a new and modern way of looking at painting which pretty much shocked the public at the time. It was Idea+style+referencing
All this can be applied to the fashion idea principle
Just try to remember
Ideas are one thing, embraceable ideas are another