Chic Clicks: Creativity and Commerce in Contemporary Fashion Photography

by Gilles Lipovetsky, Valerie Williams, Urs Stahel

Nan Goldin shoots campaigns for Prada, David LaChapelle does Camel cigarette ads, and Jurgen Teller got his start photographing models in i-d, w, and The Face. The debate between aesthetic images and commercial pressure has perhaps never been so relevant and complex as it is today, with the increasing commercialization of the art world, the not insignificant exploratory aspects of fashion photography, and our constantly expanding realm of visual references. To study these tensions and overlaps, Chic Clicks invited some 40 photographers to present both their free work and their published editorials from fashion magazines and advertising campaigns. Photographers well-known for their commercial work offer personal and exploratory prints; those who gained prominence in the fine arts display work they were subsequently hired to do for fashion companies and magazines. Accompanying essays approach fashion photography from various perspectives, from that of cutting-edge fashion magazines to the field of contemporary art photography.

Genres: Fashion

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2002

About the author

Gilles Lipovetsky (born September 24, 1944 in Millau) is a French philosopher, writer and sociologist, professor at the University of Grenoble.

Lipovetsky began his philosophical career as a Marxist, similar to many others in the 1960s. Lipovetsky’s work focuses on the modern world from the latter 20th century to the present. He has divided this time period into three periods: “Marxist self criticism” (1965-1983), post-modern (1983-1991) and the hyper modern period from 1991 on. Lipovetsky has continued to write on topics such as modernity, globalization, consumerism, modern culture, markets, feminism, fashion, and media, but they have the common thread of individualism