This is a photograph by Cecil Beaton, a British photographer (1904-1980) whose artistic abilities extended beyond photography. He was a writer and illustrator (with a talent for caricature), and won recognition as a costume and stage designer. He was a costume and production designer for a number of films, winning Academy Awards for his work on Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964). In 1968 a retrospective of his work was mounted by London's National Portrait Gallery, and in 1972 he was knighted.Beaton's career as a fashion photographer grew naturally out of his work as society portraitist and flourished under the patronage of Vogue, first in London and then in New York and Paris. Being a multi-talented artist, he employed different techniques for his fashion shot, bringing the inspiration from theater into the fashion field. This photo is called "Charles James Evening Dresses", shot in 1948 is very important image in the history of a modern fashion. Ever since Christian Dior's "New Look" collection launched in February 1947, the dramatic revitalization of Paris couture has began. The world again was paying more attention to the French design houses. Beaton's image reminded fashion audience about American Fashion, and especially about the genius of Charles James, the American couturier. The photo captured the highly elegance of a new generation of models including Jean Patchett, Doria Leigh and Dovima. Philippe Garner in his essay "An Instinct for Style" thus described Beaton: " His was a unique talent. It has been said of Beaton that he was not a photographer's photographer, a suggestion which could be explained by his professed technical ignorance and seemingly dilettante approach to the medium. He played the role of the gentleman amateur but in fact "was a remarkably hard-working professional, sharply attentive to the smallest detail of every image his camera produced."In this photo Beaton captured the world of high fashion, but the way he presented it was for a very real world.
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