WHEREAS PAINTINGS or movie making can generate huge amounts of money, they tend to be singular events. A film is box office, then it spirals down through the video market to a slot on TCM. An artist might be hot, but it is individual pieces that are bartered on the world's auction stages, or secured within museum walls. But fashion - the medium of the couture designer - has matured over the last hundred years to become an international industry of epic proportions.
Those not interested in 'fashion' tend to be blind to its presence except when making a value judgement over which pair of jeans or which skirt to buy. Yet the designers at the top of the industry ant hill have such power that their omnipresence can be mind boggling. A number of factors explain this. Firstly there is a worldwide network of retail outlets already in place, and by their very nature, these are perceived as prestigious venues. There is the sophisticated publicity machine, also international, that spews out continuous PR via magazines, advertising and product placement. And then there is diffusion. Once a brand has achieved such an elevated status it can be regarded as industry blue chip, it can branch out into every crevice of the apparel business: from eyewear to perfume, cosmetics to wristwatches and luggage.
To outsiders these high priced 'labels' are the stuff of ridicule and stupidity. A $10 handbag is just as functional as a $1000 designer one - so why pay more. A Dolce & Gabbana t-shirt at $246! But, of course, the same question can be asked of any choice made in modern times. What’s the point of a Porsche car over a Skoda - or an apartment in Manhattan when Queens can provide a ceiling and four walls? It is the industrial scale of the fashion business that gives it its unstoppable power. The countless number of people employed in the infrastructure is also mind numbing and a key factor in the rarefied fashion universe is, of course, the photographer.
Dolce and Gabbana wield the sort of power mentioned above. They are also masters of their trade, which naturally extends to absolute creative control over all aspects of their image and its promotion. When they decided to produce a book of photographs recording their press and advertising imagery, you knew it was going to be more than a book. It was going to be an event. When D&G want images, they are created by the best lensmen in the business and thus the Fashion Album is also tribute to their work too. The line-up is a roll call of the great names in the game: Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Patrick Demarchelier, Juergen Teller, Helmut Newton are amongst the 14 artists contributing. These images are documents which will be examined far more closely in the decades to come and their sociological and artistic imperatives will have even more impact to the enquiring eye of the future. Contemporary fashion photography is no longer an illustration per se, it is an evocation of mood, time and laden with the symbolism of the moment.
Stefano Gabbana was born in Venice (1962) and Domenico Dolce in Palermo, Sicily (1958). Their first major collection of women's wear was produced in 1985. Their style has been called the Southern Italian 'sex-bomb' look, via the movies of Visconti, Fellini and Rossellini. Naturally, Hollywood simply loves their brand of tarty chic. The duo, former lovers, are 'worth an estimated $350 million' (The Observer) and in 20 years have established a global empire whose march upwards rarely encounters resistance. However a recent ad campaign in their usual provocative style (a man holding down a scantily clad woman) caused uproar in Spain, where it had to be cancelled: 'We will withdraw that photo from the Spanish market alone, since they are behind the times. What does an artistic photo have to do with the real world…? [If Spanish opinion was correct] …you'd have to burn museums like the Louvre and all the paintings of Caravaggio', was D&G's retort. Oddly enough, this small incident garnered world wide press coverage! An ad featuring knives was similarly banned in the UK after complaints that the image glorified violence.
Skira have produced more than a coffee table book. It is a hypnotic glimpse into the arcane world of the fashion image. Fashion Album is a book on a heroic scale (22”x17.4”x2.7”/weight: 21.4 lbs) and to the highest specification - and certain to be a collector’s item in the very near future.
DOLCE & GABBANA Fashion Album
Text: Mariuccia Casadio
432pps full colour/duotones throughout
SKIRA
ISBN: 978-8876248498
Born in Yorkshire, England, Mike von Joel is a curator, printmaker, cartoonist, critic, lecturer and writer; and has been involved with cutting edge, independent visual arts magazines for over 25 years. Currently founding editor of State of Art, he has contributed to a number of publications over the years including Tatler and Vogue. In 1984 he wrote the 'definitive' book on illegal radio stations, Pirate Radio: Then & Now.
