Fashion Faux Pas Exhibition: Fashion at the Heart of Reality
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Today, we present to you an outing idea that will appeal to fashion and photography enthusiasts. The Clémentine de la Féronnière gallery, located on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris, has just unveiled a new free exhibition dedicated to British photographer Martin Parr. The artist’s unique and colorful vision is revealed through several prints highlighting the world of fashion from different angles. Between commissioned shots and personal series, the Fashion Faux Parr exhibition allows us to discover or rediscover the kitschy and delightful identity of this renowned photographer.
Discover a kitschy and ironic universe at the Fashion Faux Parr exhibition
Martin Parr is among photographers with a style recognizable among a hundred. A former president of Magnum, the artist has earned a place of honor thanks to his unique way of capturing society, balancing realism and irony. His work, awarded and exhibited worldwide, led to the creation of a foundation in his name in Bristol in 2017, in addition to the publication of numerous books.
Working with images across different spectrums, between photo and video, Martin Parr has managed to create a unique style, standing out with original frame compositions rich in vivid colors. The British photographer places the banality of our daily lives at the heart of his work, casting an amused gaze upon it. Society and its vices are depicted with a perfectly controlled note of irony, in a quirky photo-documentary style, which has become his signature over the years.
The photographer captures both landscapes and their inhabitants in action, from tourists traveling to bingo games, all while having a frank artistic vision that offers a mix of genres. His pop and unique perspective has particularly established itself in the fashion world, for which he has reinvented advertising photography with a modern and close-to-reality eye. The Fashion Faux Parr exhibition thus invites us to rediscover this facet of his work.
How does Fashion Faux Parr offer a new vision of advertising photography?
Published this year, the book Fashion Faux Parr compiles three decades of fashion photos taken by Martin Parr. Today, the Clémentine de la Féronnière gallery offers us the opportunity to rediscover some of these iconic shots, in large format, during the Fashion Faux Parr exhibition. Between personal series and commissioned shots, we stroll through about twenty prints, which have shifted advertising photography into another realm.
From the fashion week behind the scenes, product campaigns, and magazine shoots, Martin Parr rethinks fashion photography in its entirety. Subjects and environments are reimagined in his own style, through quirky and strikingly original shots.
While catwalks are replaced by supermarket parking lots, the lens shifts to close-ups and low angles. The usual framing of fashion photos is swapped for compositions that get as close to reality as possible. We discover a vision seeking to show the body without a filter, with its volumes and marks of time. Wrinkles shine under a mix of highlighter and self-tanner during the Gucci Cruise 2018, while poses with contracted silhouettes give way to slouched bodies on a Cuban beach.
The idea of glamour is also rethought, now mixing with irony and a touch of bling bling. Lipstick stains on teeth steal the show from jewelry adornments, and satin dresses, stained with cocktails, become the focus of a day at Ascot.
Martin Parr anchors fashion in reality, and more precisely, in his reality. The Fashion Faux Parr exhibition presents us with lively and active silhouettes in a universe blending artistic genres where boundaries become blurred. Models and passersby end up together in shots set against the backdrop of museums, gas stations, or New York fast food joints. Reality and staging merge to bring life to advertising campaigns aimed at prestigious houses as well as the biggest magazines, from the Sunday Times to international Vogues.
The Fashion Faux Parr exhibition captivates with this quest for reality infused with British humor, all enhanced by bold and striking colors that have made Martin Parr a strong figure in photography, particularly in fashion photography.
The exhibition is free and runs from March 22 to May 26 at the Clémentine de la Féronnière gallery, 51, rue saint-Louis-en-l’île, 75004 Île Saint-Louis.
