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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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Vivienne Westwood
Autumn/Winter 1995 |
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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 Gar̉«ons, Christopher Kane,
Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood.
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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 Gar̉«ons, 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 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.
