Fashion Wonderland

I think what I love most about fashion is its ability to tell a story - to weave a tale that doesn't need to be understood with words.  This story can be told on the runway, in the pages of a magazine, or even on the body of an individual walking down the street.  With the right pairing of clothing, setting, and attitude, any visual story can be told on its own.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

However, not every fashion spread is executed well enough to tell a cohesive story that speaks metaphorically to the viewer.  You need the right combination of setting, visual composition, and style in order for a fashion spread to be powerful and inspiring in the way that it truly can be. And when this combination is executed well, a fashion story can be, in my opinion, more powerful and inspiring than any written one.  

I'll use this opportunity to share about my favorite fashion photo story of all time, which was photographed by Annie Leibovitz back in 2003 for the December issue of Vogue.  Even for me, an avid devourer of fashion photography, it is rare that I remember the exact place and moment where I first viewed a particular fashion spread. I'll remember moments when I first heard a great song, or something of that nature, but never a fashion spread. However, on one particular day, I remember specifically sitting in my high school library during study hall five years ago flipping through the pages of Vogue when I came across this Leibovitz's shoot.  It isn't just the extraordinarily designed dresses and their magnificent delicacy that originally caught my eye, and holds my intrigue to this day- it's the concept behind the story and how it is complete fantasy yet oddly relatable at the same time. The story is about a girl named Alice- the one that we all know and love. 

The complete photo story, which can be viewed on Style.com is entitled "Alice in Wonderland" after Lewis Carroll's hugely successful fantasy novel of the same name.  Young (back then) model Natalia Vodianova plays the innocent Alice and dons dresses all custom-made for the Vogue shoot by big name designers such as Donatella Versace, Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, and each dress falls within Alice's signature color palette of blue.  Some of my personal favorites from the spread are below...

Dresses by Christian Lacroix (above) and Marc Jacobs (below)

Dresses by Jean Paul Gaultier (above) and John Galliano (below)

Dresses by Viktor&Rolf (above) and Helmut Lang (below)

I could look at these photos again and again and never get bored, but I think the beauty of it is that every person can interpret their own meaning from the story. Check it out and see what you think.