Cecil Beaton
(Image of Cecil Beaton)
Starting off with Cecil Beaton, the photographer made his creative debut within the pages of Vogue with images that have arguably became some of the most iconic images in fashion to date. Beaton was recognised as one of the best fashion photographers in the industry as early as the twenties and the duration of his career in the industry. From Hollywood to royalty, Beaton was known to have photographed some of the most famous women in the world such as Princess Margaret, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Twiggy which allowed his images to pave the way we perceive the female identity and culture right up to the present day and influence the work of other leading photographers such as David Bailey and Mario Testino who were inspired by his creative talent. Furthermore, these images also gave regular women a muse to look up to since he portrayed them in such prestigious and glamorous ways to present a vision of fashion, beauty and status.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton by Cecil Beaton
Grace Kelly by Cecil Beaton
Marilyn Monroe by Cecil Beaton for Harper's Bazaar in 1956
Besides capturing the beauty of women in the mid 20th century across his 50 years in the industry he managed to captured art, culture and celebrities by picturing the likes of the Sitwells in the 1920s to the Rolling Stones and some of the brightest cult figures such as David Hockney, Jean Shrimpton and Rudolf Nureyev in the late 1960s.
Unforgettably, Cecil Beaton was also very involved in the art industry during the time of the war, therefore, he translated his talent into a way where he could both help his country and pursue his passion for photography by becoming an official war photographer. He represented the Home Front throughout his work during this period by taking pictures of land girls and his memorable portrait of the 3 year-old blitz victim Eileen Dunne (1940) in a hospital bed in the north of England. During this period Beaton also captured wartime artists such as the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, composer Benjamin Britten and the study of the elderly Walter Sickert and his wife Helen Lessore in their garden near Bath in 1940.
Portrait of the 3 year-old blitz victim Eileen Dunne in a hospital bed in the north of England in 1940
Post war and after the a decade of photographing his long term romantic interest, international fashion icon and Swedish film actress Greta Garbo, Beaton started work on the costume designs for the first version of My Fair Lady for the American stage with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison and was to continue with the production until his own Oscar-winning work for the film version starring Audrey Hepburn in 1964.
Audrey Hepburn, My Fair Lady by Cecil Beaton 1964
Overall, Beaton's flexibility and skill allowed him to reinvented the photographic style of the 20th century and create a new way of visually seeing society for a new decade and for other photographers to follow.
"Cecil Beaton was essential to the cultural life of Britain and beyond in the twentieth century, both as a creator and a recorder," Giles Huxley-Parlour, director of photography at Chris Beetles Gallery
Clifford Coffin
He may not be as recognised as Cecil Beaton, but Clifford Coffin was ultimately one of the most fascinating and majestic contributors to the visual side of Vogue during the 20th century. Even though he was known as Vogue's 'lost' photographer, Coffin travelled between London, Paris and New York to create and deliver Vogue with some of the most elegant and impeccable fashion images during his time in the industry which was predominantly post war. He captured visions of both art and society to tell a story about the differences in lifestyle that were being identified across the globe after war and how it had ultimately pushed society to move from being very traditional and conservative to freer and expressive in many different forms but particularly fashion and attitudes. One of his biggest jobs in the industry was taking one of the few photographs of Christian Dior at his inaugural ‘New Look’ collection of 1947. Although Cecil Beaton can be found to be responsible for inspiring the likes of David Bailey and Mari Testino, Coffin was responsible for influencing Nick Knight and Helmut Newton who went onto create electronic, futuristic and cult versions of the same narratives and discoveries as Coffin captured.
Vogue Print by Clifford Coffin in 1949
Although he mostly worked in New York at Vogue's studios, in 1946 the photographer was sent to London in 1946, where he brought modernism to the dull post-war years where this sort of attitude was still seen as shocking just before the fifties came around. Coffin was an outspoken homosexual whose bad, flamboyant behaviour was legendary and was translated into his photographs to portray his appetite for both self-destruction and pushing the boundaries of society and fashion.
Models wearing Balengiaca; photographed by Clifford Coffin in 1954
Though he died a forgotten figure, Coffin definitely did not shy away from making a stance in the fashion industry whilst he lived. He was known in the business for his eccentric yet heroic approaches to fashion photography to bring out the best of those he worked with; whether they liked it or not. He was the one true American photographer of his time who was both successful and completely and utterly breathed in fashion and exhilarated it into his visual work.
"He should have lived in the sixties. He was witty, bitchy and for the dull fifties shockingly so." wrote Vogue model Wilhemina.
Vogue Print by Clifford Coffin in March 1949
David Bailey
(Image of David Bailey)
David Bailey may not be from the era of Clifford Coffin or Cecil Beaton or even be responsible for shaping the world of photography from the beginning but he has definitely had a great deal of importance in the industry; especially during the late 20th century when social order was changing and new values for both women and men were starting to occur. Starting in the industry during the 60's, Bailey quickly became the decade's iconic chronicler with his creation of two portrait publications called the David Bailey's box of pin-ups (1965) and Goodbye Baby and Amen (1969). Arguably through these publications, Bailey led the way for a change in society and contributed to the Swinging Sixties movement in London where fashion and the celebrity chic culture went wild with their identities.
David Bailey's box of pin-ups (1965)
Bailey was known for his creative and cultural approach to photography and therefore, it was no surprise that he socialised with actors, musicians and royalty which elevated him to celebrity status and recognition for being part of "the Black Trinity" of celebrity photographers, alongside Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy.
Furthermore, it was also David Bailey who shot the iconic photograph of the London Gangster and twins, Reggie and Ronnie Kray back in 1968 as part of his East End Faces portfolio.
David Bailey's photograph of the Kray Twins holding a snake in 1968
Some of his most famous work consists of images of The Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol, Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy and the Beatles to communicate true Britishness and the creative minds of the modernistic cultural decade.
Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey
The Beatles by David Bailey
"It was the Sixties, it was a raving time, and Bailey was unbelievably good-looking. He was everything that you wanted him to be – like the Beatles but accessible – and when he went on the market everyone went in. We were all killing ourselves to be his model, although he hooked up with Jean Shrimpton pretty quickly". Grace Coddlington, former editor and chief of American Vogue
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