Martin Parry photographs fashion without moderation

Globalized tourism, colorful fairs, ice cream drops, parties where alcohol flows freely, ruddy guests laughing out loud, over-tanned, wrinkled or body-built bodies… British photographer Martin Parry has been documenting for more than four decades. Western world full of excess. How Fashion Became 21’s 8 Big Consumers^e century, could he resist?

For the first time, his fashion photographs spanning twenty-five years have been compiled into a beautiful book published by Phaidon. His title, cleverly chosen, immediately raises the question of the good and bad taste inherent in his work: Fashion Faux Parr, A reference to the “fashion faux pas,” that sartorial slip that some think is worth fixing.

The work combines photographs commissioned by magazines (Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, Jealous), series produced for brands (Balenciaga, Jacquemus, Zara) and some shots taken during fashion week. Here and there, we recognize industry figures in scenes that trivialize and humanize them: Giorgio Armani and Valentino Garavani backstage, Model Stella Tennant (1970-2020) gardening, Anna Wintour with her eyes fixed on her smartphone, Paul Smith in a big mess in his study, Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) posing in the toilet… in an environment that reflects fashion. Shows and advertisements designed to impress ordinary mortals, Martin Parry poses against the decorum and pomp that always wants to bring fashion back to reality.

A demystification approach

“In Martin’s best fashion photos, real people take the same place as models.” Scottish designer Patrick Grant notes in his foreword. From his first report, for an Italian magazine Amika In 1999, Martin Parr showed his skinny, red-haired models in the middle of the beach in Rimini. Nona Someone who wants to escape the lens, a tourist who is indistinct sitting on a pole, or a young man with flowing hair flexing his muscles…

Therefore, the public spaces where the middle class consumes and relaxes will become their best environment. Her fashion photos on the pages show anonymous people, surprised or delighted to be there, in changing rooms, at a gas station, at a laundromat, at the dentist, at McDonald’s or in the frozen food section of a supermarket.

An approach to demystification that he similarly applies to still lifes: Gucci sunglasses among cacti, a Jimmy Choo clutch at a garage sale stand, a Dior bag worth several thousand euros stuffed into a cabbage box. Martin Parr, ironic but not mocking, dislikes fashion so much for its luxurious attributes. He is more than happy to capture his debauchery, his tanned prints, excess sequins to better bring the silhouettes from the latest collections to the border, on the edge of the costume ball.