Visual Review: Steven Meisel, A Fashion Icon

The fashion industry is one of the biggest and most successful businesses in the world. From retail apparel to high fashion products such as couture, this industry has been able to attract a variety of people, therefore resulting in a multibillion-dollar global industry. It’s pretty common for one to associate the fashion world with designers or models, but some of the most important people work directly behind the camera. Photography is an essential part of the fashion industry. Without photographers, Vogue issues would probably not exist, and models wouldn’t be getting the exposure they do today. One of the most famous and influential fashion photographers is Steven Meisel. He’s an American photographer whose photos have been on the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

At a young age, Meisel became fascinated with the fashion industry. He was specifically interested in models and loved to draw them in his notebooks. This later carried him to one of his first jobs in the industry as an illustrator for Halston. After years of illustrating, Meisel had a change of heart and switched to photography. He became a photographer at an agency and since then has taken photos for a variety of designers and publications.

One of his most famous clients is model Naomi Campbell. They’ve been working together for almost 25 years. Edward Enninful, the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, stated “Naomi practically becomes a teenager again, shy and focused…They know each other so well that they don’t really need words.” Below is the image Meisel captured of Campbell for the 2019 March issue of British Vogue. This image is a three-sided portrait with shallow depth of field. The medium close up allows its audience to identify details of Campbells features. This image was taken at eye level, allowing us to view it as if it was real life. The coloring of this image is probably one of the most intriguing things about it. Instead of having a single portrait image, Meisel combined three and added a split tone effect of color. With a good amount of exposure and blurring, Meisel was able to make a surreal photo.

Within the March Issue, Meisel captured some of Campbell’s most famous photos. One of my favorite images was the one of Campbell being photographed by paparazzi. This image was taken at mid-shot. Although the focus is on Campbell, her surroundings show more of a story. Something I like about the way Meisel captures his photos is that many of them tell a story. This image was taken at a lower angle to show Campbell is someone of power. The fact that she has paparazzi following her shows she is someone of importance. She’s not completely centered, but your eyes go directly to her. The exposure in the image calls attention to Campbell. There’s high exposure from the flash of the camera directly angled at Campbell. Although this is a black and white image, I think the way Meisel managed the contrast made it more appealing to viewers.

Meisel continues to contribute some of the most influential work to the fashion world. He will always be known as one of the greatest fashion photographers of our time. Below are some more images of the 2019 March British Vogue Issue.