CATWALKING: FASHION THROUGH THE LENS OF CHRIS MOORE

Back in the days before the internet was invented and there were no digital cameras, professional fashion photographers played the important role of capturing key catwalk moments onto the pages of fashion magazines.

Yves Saint Laurent, Spring/Summer 1974

Now a new major exhibition at the Bowes Museum*, County Durham, north England, will highlight the key role played by one specific fashion photographer whose work has won him the accolade of the king of catwalk photography.

Comme des Garçons, Spring/Summer 2017

After carving a career that spans six decades, Chris Moore is still today capturing all the iconic catwalk moments in the fashion capitals of the world, from London to Paris, Milan and New York.

Balmain, Autumn/Winter 1977 

The new exhibition, CATWALKING: Fashion through the Lens of Chris Moore, running from 7 July until 6 January 2019, will bring a rare insight into the fashion world, with previously unseen images and glimpses of behind-the-scenes at shows.  

Vivienne Westwood
Autumn/Winter 1995

John Galliano
Spring/Summer 1993

The exhibition also charters the startling evolution of fashion over 60 years, demonstrating the impact that emerging designers had on fashion, the rebirth of haute couture, and the rise of the supermodel.

It offers an exclusive opportunity to see 200 original photographs, chosen by Moore from his extensive archive, taken at legendary fashion shows including those at Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, John Galliano, Comme des Garҫons, Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood.  

Hussein Chalayan, Spring/Summer 2007
All images © Catwalking

A selection of original catwalk outfits, as seen in the accompanying photographs here, will be lent to the Museum by the world’s leading fashion houses in a unique collaboration.

“Chris Moore is the eye that shows the catwalk to the world. "

 Joanna Hashagen, Curator of Fashion and Textiles at The Bowes Museum, said: “Chris Moore is the eye that shows the catwalk to the world.  Our exhibition charts the evolution of fashion in displaying clothes and accessories by the top designers that are captured in Chris’s photographs -   Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Comme des Garҫons, Giles Deacon and Jean Paul Gaultier, to name just a few! I’m excited and honoured to be working with Chris Moore and (co-curator) Alex Fury, as The Bowes Museum becomes home to an exclusive fashion exhibition once again.”

Born in Newcastle, Moore entered the world of fashion in 1954, aged just 20, when he began work at Vogue Studio in London, assisting photographers including Henry Clarke and Cecil Beaton. By the late 1960s he was documenting the collections of designers such as Paco Rabanne, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. Moore has worked with all the leading UK national newspapers and is also the founder of Catwalking.com, the first UK website dedicated to catwalk imagery.

The exhibition expands on Catwalking: photographs by Chris Moore, published by Laurence King, with words by Alexander Fury, an award-winning fashion journalist and critic. Fury, co-curator of the exhibition, said of its concept: “The excitement is in combining the ephemeral with the eternal – translating the fleeting ‘fashion moment’, experienced by so few at the international collections, cementing it through the reality of the clothes, and translating into an exhibition all can enjoy. These clothes will literally ‘leap,’ out of the images and back to life again.”

The exhibition opens on 7 July 2018, running until 6 January 2019, at the Bowes Museum*, County Durham, north England.

* The Bowes Museum which has undergone a major redevelopment, was created over 100 years ago by John and Joséphine Bowes, who built up their private collection of fine and decorative arts in the North of England and constructed a magnificent building to house them in.  The collection contains thousands of objects including furniture, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and many other items covering an extensive range of European styles and periods.

All images © Catwalking