MICHAEL GROSS' book FOCUS - THOSE NAME MODELS! : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

Makeup Artists (Bill King), Photographers (David Bailey, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Patrick Demarchelier, Editors, Models (Lauren Bacall, Dovima, Janice Dickenson, Jacqueline Bisset, Christie Brinkley, Gia Carangi, Nastassja Kinski, Miley Cyrus, Gigi Hadid), Department Stores (Henri Bendel), bookers (John Casablanca, Eileen Ford), Designers (CoCo Chanel, Christian Dior,  Clair McCardell, Perry Ellis, Halston, Givency, John Galliano), Stylists (OK, I'm doing a LOT of name dropping here but these names are just a few mentioned in the book!)  You may be surprised by how many of these professional's names you recognize, simply because you read the fine print on some of the ads in fashion ads in magazines. 


 


Michael Gross's book is on the evolution of the photographers and how they and the models they worked with evolved themselves and in and with fashion and the way this was part of and promoted the sexual revolution. This book focuses on the give and take - perhaps the balance - between the fashion photographer and the editor who places limits on what will be acceptable for the magazine layout and the models.  Sometimes the models went past their limits responding to the photographer. Sometimes a model became an inspiration or a muse. Sometimes a photographer had a whole posse of models the preferred to work with - and visa versa. It's about the days of analog fashion imagery, beginning with the 1940's, the "game changers" in those days before reality television and Internet media stars made the magazine and the inner layouts.  The book moves into what's happened because of digital photography and processes such as Photoshop, that can create scenes that never took place. 


"An open secret in the business is that magazines often dole out "pages" and "credits" based on the purchase of advertising pages and that photographers regularly shoot "musts" garments chosen by major advertisers.  But accepting these compromises has compensations.  Powerful magazine editors and stylists have long functioned as de facto agents for photographers recommending them to advertisers for higher paying jobs as a perquisite offsetting enough editorial payments and limited creative freedom."
Chapter, "Welcome to Terrytown,"  (regarding Terry Richardson, a photographer)
pages 50-51 of the e-book


In the epilogue, pages 114-115 of 120 of the e-book, there is a quote from Carey Franklin: "Fashion will pretend it's art instead of calling it what it really is - porno objectification of women all stylishly dressed up as womenswear marketing.  But then, women have gotten so used to seeing themselves with their legs wide open and their fannies hanging out, they have normalized it for themselves! What he (Terry Richardson) does behind the scene however is simply unethical."


Do magazine editors and fashion influencers only want beautiful women?  According to this book, Vogue magazine, when Diana Vreeland was the editor, chose models she preferred that photographers called "Vogue Ugly!"


Hey, there's a lot of mistress name dropping in this book too!  William Helburn was one of a few men who claimed they were sleeping with hot model Jean Shrimpton, "the shrimp," during the mods and rockers era.  In his case, Helburn was "dumped by his mistress Elsa Martinelli," for his involvement.  (Chapter "A Tableau of... in US pages 12-13 of 25.)


What made some these photographer's who became famous for fashion photography click (if you'll pardon that expression!) so that their work dominated.  Many of them were not sexually attracted to women. Some of them were S and M players who enjoyed making models do "edgy" things, such as when Helmut Newton had Jerry Hall lick the cowboy boots of a male model riding a horse (Chapter "An Intolerable and Mendacious Factor, page 26 of 37).


Then so many photographers, designers, fashion executives, and make-up artists and hairdressers, and a model or so, such as Gia Caragi, started dying of AIDS before it was understood, and until the late 1980's not even discussed. The cause of death was concealed even as insiders knew.  Photographer Bill King's extreme life style is rather detailed here, S and M and cocaine, and for all that he would not admit to being gay.  Yes, my readers, it was in that chapter that I became shocked.


This book is certainly worth of your fashion-conscious consideration as we here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot read up on fashion!


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