Fashion photography is said to have begun with the distinguished American photographer Edward Steichen in 1911, and in the more than hundred years since then the genre has attracted some of the most talented photographers in the history of the medium. Many of them started their careers thanks to the editors and art directors of Vogue, Glamour and other Conde Nast publications. This book, featuring the work of 85 of the great fashion photographers past and present, drawn from the Conde Nast archives in New York, Paris and Milan, illustrates the early work of such celebrated practitioners as Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Corinne Day, Ellen von Unwerth and Mario Testino that appeared in the pages of the company's magazines.
The book is arranged chronologically from 1910 to 2010, and each plate section is interleaved with texts that recount the major photographers of the period and the changing styles of photography and fashion. The book also includes an interview with Franca Sozzani, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, essays by Olivier Saillard and Sylvie Lecallier from the Musee Galliera, Paris, and an introduction by author Nathalie Herschdorfer, photography historian and curator. A brief biography of each photographer is included at the back of the book.