7.01.2009

séeberger brothers

elegance: the séeberger brothers and the rise of fashion photography is a stunning photographic exposé chronicling street fashion and couture fashion in paris throughout the twentieth century. although what the séebergers did, in terms of fashion photography, was not extraordinarily revolutionary, their archive of fashion photography is one of the largest to date. their foray into studio photo shoots in the 1930s and 40s predicted the future of photo journalism, and, as it happens to be, the way we approach fashion journlism today.

the brothers were iconocized by their vast archives of street style from parisian racetracks, like longchamp, and other fashionable situations of high society. this evolved into their desire to capture trends and styles throughout paris, photographing the very best of parisian mode on the beaches, boardwalks, and at events attended by the societal elite. their business exanded as they began to shoot couture, using both real women and models as their subjects. chanel, poiret, rochas, patou, schiaparelli, hermes, callot, lanvin...their photographs represent an unbelievable retrospective of one of the most chic, stately, and perfectly refined periods in fashion history.

these photographs hardly represent the breadth of stunning photography available in elegance but you can certainly see the inspiration behind their vision. i love contemporary fashion photo journalism, obviously, but i'm so inspired by the history of the parisian chic; that entire enclave of women who dressed in couture and donned hats for every occassion, their gesticulations accented by pearled, gloved hands and cigarettes in holders. there's very little that's chic about 21st century america. over-stressed, over-weight, and over-consumed, the laissez-faire, enjoy-it-as-you-wish approach to life that permeated the social mood of this era is sadly not present.

i find these women to be utterly magestic, and advise finding a copy of this book. you can never have enough of the elegance and classicism of the parisian attitude.














4 comments:

  1. Love the images! Great blog :)

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  2. thanks so much! i checked out your blog, too (loved your leggings post)...i'm excited to continue reading!

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  3. This is totally what Scott Schuman is born of- Especially his Governor's Island posts:
    (see the June Archives. I tried to post the link with no luck).

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  4. i know...when i was image searching, the sartorialist came up and he had posted a vibrant homage to the seeberger brothers; it was lovely.

    i have YOU to thank for introducing me to this lovely book :)

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