Fashion has been portrayed differently over the years, this is due to the way that technology has progressed and developed and how opinions and reactions towards new and different art forms have been accepted more. Fashion is now advertised in the most unique ways, where the setting of the photograph is now a very significant factor, nowadays the setting of the photograph can be seen as just as important as the actual fashion subject in the photograph, whereas before the setting of the photograph was not so important and what was actually being advertised was what was most focused on the most. This is just one example of how fashion photography has changed and in this essay I will be looking in depth how fashion photography has developed and changed.
To establish how and why fashion photography has changed and developed over the generations it is important to define fashion photography. According to Wikipedia, Fashion photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items. Fashion photography is most often conducted for advertisements or fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, or Elle. This was the main and original purpose for fashion photography back in the first decade of the 20th century. In the first decade of the 20th century. Advances in halftone printing allowed fashion photographs to be featured in magazines, this is a major factor as to why fashion photography began to become common. The first real example of fashion photography comes from Edward J Steichen in 1911, he photographed models wearing gowns for a magazine and invented the modern fashion photo shoot.[11] In the early 20th century the magazine industry embraced fashion photography as a tool for selling an enviable lifestyle, and with it clothes and accessories. This theme of photographing clothing, footwear and accessories to advertise and sell is what still runs in photography still