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100 years of fashion photography

The exhibition “Coming into Fashion – a century of photography at Condé Nast” in Zurich shows 150 photographs from the archives of the legendary publisher Condé Nast.

Outlining a century of Zeitgeist, the images come from the Condé Nast archives in New York, Paris, London and Milan. Most show women with various degrees of sex appeal: in shorter or longer skirts, with crazy hairstyles, in hats and veils, or lounging around in swimwear.

The prints give impressions of the past century’s trends at the dream factories of the fashion and luxury industries. It’s like time travel in the form of fabrics, light and colours which reflect society’s spirit, aspirations and dreams. Then and now, fashion photography combines commerce and creativity.

The pictures from the Condé Nast archives, which are exhibited at Zurich’s Museum BelleriveExternal link until October 2014, include vintage prints and early original issues of the fashion magazines “Vogue” and “Vanity Fair”

(Text: Gaby Ochsenbein)

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