New forms of a dress

Fashion photography, once thought frivolous, has become art's rising star with a new visual language

At one time, not so very long ago, the only place to see a fashion photograph was in the pages of a magazine or possibly stuck to the wall of a teenage girl's bedroom; but things have changed, with museums holding major exhibitions, galleries and auction houses selling fashion images, and publishers constantly releasing new titles devoted to fashion photography. Removed from its original context (the magazine page), fashion photography has become art's rising star.

The art world has become more receptive to the medium as museums have moved from high art to an all-embracing visual culture. For a long time, fashion photography was seen as exclusively commercial. However, contemporary photographers don't necessarily conceive of their work as fitting into one single category or medium.