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The Counterfeit Body: Fashion Photography and the Deceptions
of Femininity, Sexuality, Authenticity and Self in the 1950s, 60s and 70s [Page 13]
Another major figure in 50s and 60s fashion photography was William Klein. Avedon and Klein, as two of the most prolific photographers of the period, shared the spotlight, but maintained different styles of presentation. Klein pioneered the ‘street’ look in fashion photography, inspiring a more instant and sometimes more gritty sense of realism, while Avedon’s work during this time had a fairy tale-like quality to it (Radner 131). “William Klein…successfully makes the transition to art…self-consciously plays with the codes of fashion photography” (Ibid. 138). The way they were presented in his images, the models “seem fiercely intent on breaking through the frame” (Ibid.). His models seem slightly less passive and more independent as they oppose their position and combat their capture by the camera in their expressions and posture. They are aggressive and confrontational, either challenging or ignoring the camera. Klein’s photographed women seem to possess “integrity and purpose,” beyond acting as mere objects of display, and because of this, seem more progressive in this presentation. Avedon’s women, at times, almost appear as decorations or props in a set piece.
Funny Face served as a precursor to this shift in sensibility and sensitivity. The girl next door was about to let her hair down. She was going to be unleashed and a little sexed up. The 1956 musical, starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn encapsulates the feeling and mode of the era with uncanny clarity and proximity. The fairy tale world of fashion presented onscreen is by no means a perfect reflection of reality, however the styles and mannerisms of that time and place are communicated and reinforced; likewise, many characters in Funny Face were based on real and prominent figures of the then current fashion world. Most notably, Dick Avery, Astaire’s fashion photographer character, was modeled on one of the most prolific fashion photographers of the time, Richard Avedon. Avedon also served as a consultant for the film to ensure a more accurate depiction of the current lifestyle and practices of the fashion culture. Further, some of his real life signature images were recreated in the film, such as the scene with Hepburn at the flower market in the Parisian plaza. While Avedon certainly was not villianized to the degree of his colleagues working later in the industry in the 60s and 70s, if the Avery character is indeed based on him, he comes across as not entirely innocuous in his motives and behavior towards his models. From his first interaction with Jo, who will become his model, in the bookstore, to their second meeting in the magazine’s darkroom, Avery clearly asserts who is the dominant figure in their relationship; the power dynamic is shifted heavily in his favor. Avery treats Jo like a child, yet at the same time, with a good deal of perverse irony, makes no secret of his attraction to and affection for her. He begins to seduce from the outset. The photographer is equally unprofessional with Marion (Dovima), his regular stock model, although in a completely different manner, insulting her lack of intelligence and one-dimensionality and making dismissive and sexist comments. The film not only presents issues of style concerning photography and models, but also the most basic style itself, the clothes. While Funny Face is often regarded as a showcase for Givenchy couture and as adding to Hepburn’s iconic status in culture, it is not the gown she wears “at the film’s conclusion that will inspire future fashion. She is remembered for the black turtleneck and capri pants that she wears to frolic as yet unreformed in the cafes of Paris” (Radner 130). Avery assumes the role of the star-maker in the film, recreating and introducing the mousy bookstore clerk as the new face of Quality. Her association with the fashion photographs, in a sense, ‘makes’ her. As art often imitates life, or perhaps in this case, life imitates art, Hepburn’s real moment as a fashion icon arrives after this film’s release. Funny Face addresses many of the real-world issues that fashion was confronting in the mid to late 1950s. The film captures the period of transition from the static, formal conventions of earlier fashion photography to the increasingly popularized ‘Single Girl’ phenomenon and associated aesthetic. Funny Face presents the metaphorical passing of the torch in fashion style from soft, feminine constraint, to a more sexual or sexually ambiguous and edgy look associated with the 1960s. In the beginning of the film, the seasoned professional model Marion, played by real–life modeling star of the time, Dovima, is shown as exceedingly elegant and well bred. At the same time, she is also exceedingly cold, haughty and vapid. Avery ardently expresses his disdain for her type of model as well as the confining stasis and tedium of studio photography. He longs for the dynamism of the ‘real’ world, for spontaneity and movement as well as models of substance and intelligence. Audrey Hepburn, inhabiting the character of Jo Stockton—the fiercely intelligent yet mousy book shopkeeper turned unconventional and revolutionary new fashion ingenue and icon, marks the transition to this new kind of ideal. The plot of Funny Face runs as a kind of gross condensing of history in presenting the late 50s shift in fashion photography aesthetics. The film begins with a rabidly enthusiastic and brash magazine editor, Maggie Prescott, (based on Diana Vreeland) of Quality (assuming the role of Vogue here), the premier women’s fashion magazine, in a state of panic and frustration. She expresses her dissatisfaction with the stasis of the magazine’s presentation of fashions and models. Prescott is desirous of something new and innovative for the ‘modern woman.’ She decides that the magazine needs to introduce a new type of woman by finding her, shooting her and putting her on the cover. Enlisting the help of Avery and her regular crew, they invade a neglected Greenwich Village bookstore to do a ‘real’ photo shoot with harebrained model Marion. “They have little success making Marion look intelligent, even when surrounded by books. But Dick finds possibilities in using the young, frumpy and studious-minded bookstore clerk Jo Stockton as the model, as she projects character—a new virtue for a model” (Schwartz www.us.imdb.com/Reviews/322/3225). Jo is the living, filmic embodiment of the new Single Girl. She is independent, intelligent and in control, at least until she falls in love. Like many of the elements of fashion photography, Jo’s apparent and insistent independence is mere illusion. As soon as she wears a wedding gown for a shoot and enters Avery’s proximity, Jo melts in a melodramatic and weakly feminine display. The quirky and independently minded, yet fairly defenseless girl of the bookstore is gone and in her place is a domesticated and submissive child eager for the tradition and security of marriage. During this period, it was acceptable to present the chimera of this persona, so long as it remained that and was never actualized. While Jo is shown cavorting around Paris as a free-spirited bohemian, she easily shifts into the mode of delicate and feminine high fashion. She is remembered for her ‘spunk,’ but she is ultimately uniformed and preserved as a Givenchy-clothed doll.
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