I love finding hidden gems in my 25-year-old archive. Occasionally if I have the opportunity I’ll take a look through and remind myself of some of the amazing assignments I’ve covered. Luckily I own the copyright on all the commissions I’ve shot. Gradually I’ve been dipping into some of my older negatives, scanning them on my film scanner, cleaning any dust spots and placing them into photography stock libraries. This week I’ve found some of the fashion assignments I shot in the 90’s.
Zig-zagging from show to show across the capital
In 1997, being the youngest and keenest photographer on The Daily/ Sunday Telegraph’s payroll, I was asked to join the Fashion team and cover London Fashion Week. A mammoth task, going from show to show, photographing every designer’s outfit which appeared on each of the catwalk runways, zig-zagging from venue to venue across the capital. There used to be so many photographers from all over the world that there used to be a fight to get a position amongst all the cameras at nearly every show. We used to stand on a 300mm lens box, balancing a camera and 300mm lens on a monopod hoping to get a clear view down the runway. At the end of each show a fashion assistant used to be waiting to despatch our films via courier to the picture desk in time for the next day’s newspaper. Then after the final show of the day, the team headed out to the designer’s VIP parties and I would capture the latest fashion must-haves or celebrities.
The photograph featured in this blog is from an exclusive assignment for The Daily Telegraph Fashion desk to go backstage, photograph the build-up including the hair and make-up, then an interview with Tanya Sarne founder of GHOST label ahead of the day’s show.
I always love the atmosphere and energy before and during the shows.
The big designers always had the best shows and top supermodels on their books. It was an amazing time 1997 being my first year covering London Fashion Show. British fashion was massive with some mega talent. There was a real buzz. Getting such good access behind the scenes enabled me to photograph some of the world’s biggest fashion stars. In this photograph taken on 28th September 1997 is the Danish supermodel Helena Christensen, having her hair prepared ahead of the show. Helena is also a passionate photographer, seen here holding a Contax film camera.
Over the coming years, I covered many fashion assignments. Including shows in Paris, Milan and London.
Please get in contact if you would like to commission me to cover any fashion assignments in the future.
