McFASHION

The word here is McFashion which unfortunately leads to McFashion photography sponsored by the magazines.I suppose it all comes from the McDonalds concept. Same bun same burger same fries wherever you go.
But surely theres got to be some art in those burgers, not much, but a great concept initially.
Concepts count.
Yes they (the magazines) have to make money, please their advertisers and shareholders, which means not too many, if any, risks which means pretty much the same thing month in out.
The trendies are no different Citizen K, Surface (the late)Dutch all McTrendyfashion.
Its the singularity of life.
People feel it and need to break with it and 'wierdness'is the answer and thats maybe why wierdness is a style in photography. McTrendyfashion photography.Its the way things are. The way the business is calling out to the young.
But if theres no nod to business and commerce it falls into eccentricity.
A model has asked to photograph with me tonight, shes travelled 100 miles to do some shows in the N.E.and is coming on another 40 to Newcastle to the studio
I told her what I do and asked what she wanted heres an excerpt
"am trying to explain what sort of poses am after so please bear with me .. am after sort of ."uncomfortable" shots none of this lifestyle .. or catalog crap ha ha.
I think she wants to be a contortionist with some wierdness thrown in.
Why do kids feel this way its because of whats in the air of their lives, its a constant need to break with the past,and to distance oneself from the present, without moving into the future. any editor worth their salt will know this, they want this for their pages, they want this from their photographers.It will please their readers.
Anyone who is willing:If you have a US Vogue , go to it, open it up and read the Ist Masthead then read the Publishers Masthead
How many of these people have a direct influence on the photography in this magazine.Lots and lots
The influence that such people have on fashion photography is seriousley overlooked.Especially by the 'I just do what I want to do people'.
Its been going on for years
Here I recommend a trip to Frank Horvat:http://www.horvatland.com/index.html
Horvats site is a real pleasure to visit.
Heres some excerpts:'My desire for a "more natural" look (or what seemed so at the time) created a lot of problems to the editors, the models, the printers, etc:'
'I hired the sexiest models I could find, certain that a couple of beautiful girls, photographed in front of the majestic cliffs of Etretat, would please the boss even more than the "décolletés" in the streets. But I was mistaken: what Dassault really wanted, was to improve his magazine with what he considered a high-class look. When I arrived with the new photographs, he just glanced at them and dismissed me without a word.'
'We persuaded Nancy to organize a party of celebrities in a penthouse garden. The fashion would be worn by good looking young women of the New York society, rather than by models, and I would photograph them casually, while they were talking, drinking or having fun with other guests. The pictures looked different from anything that had previously been published in the magazine, and even Nancy White was delighted, until she noticed that one of the guests was a black diplomat from the UN. "If we show the girls with this person, none of them will be eligible for marriage'
Once you get into the game there are forces outside direct photography that have great influence on what is published,then others not knowing whats being rejected because of these forces seek to copy the pages. The result is Life imitating photography imitating pages of McLife.
The drawback with photographing only for yourself with no regard to commercial fashion photography is that most of these individualists nick all their ideas from pages. Pages which are a result of the 'fashion system'
Anyone who wants their fashion pictures to improve has to give serious thought to building into their work, (even their personal work), the restaints and solidarities of commercial fashion picture taking, that is if you aspire to professional magazine quality.
Avoid dilettantism:'a person whose interest in a subject is superficial rather than professional'
Unless you want to stay on the fry station all your life