Main image Guinevere van Seenus, Jil Sander S/S 1996 by Craig McDean.

Fashion Image Revolution. The title snippet of photography expert and author Charlotte Cotton’s new coffee table compendium says it all. This isn’t just a book of pretty pictures – although with fabled shots of Linda Evangelista by Nick Knight (1993) and Jamie Bochert by Sølve Sundsbø (2002), we can promise you that they’re present in plentiful supply. This is an album that charts the seminal waves in fashion photography, which have forever changed its landscape.


Shalom Harlow, Louis Vuitton, 1996 by Nick Knight.

The era in the spotlight is the 1980s, a decade which saw counterculture magazines i-D and The Face shake up the London scene. With a focus on the art of photography in a pre-digital world, the pioneer at the centre of this tome is, naturally, Brian Dowling – the alchemist of analogue printing.

Some forty years on since Brian’s infamous Islington darkroom, BDI Colour Lab, was first established using specialist analogue equipment, this book now arrives to trace the very beginnings of the era of experimentation; it shines a light on the technical innovations in colour photography that took place in between its four walls, paving the way for today’s digital effects, and looks back with nostalgia on some of the most remarkable fashion photographs and friendships made. Keep an eye out for heavyweights Anton Corbjin, Jurgen Teller and Nick Knight, amongst others.


Karen Elson, Numéro, 2004 by Sølve Sundsbø.

With extensive commentary from Charlotte Cotton, consider it your best education on the most colourful era of photography!

Click here to brush up on your photography history via Prestel Publishing. 


Also on Because Magazine:

+Caroline Issa reviews her latest must-watch discovery in documentary film-making. 

Elliss Solomon of her namesake label talks creating clothing with a conscience.

+ We discuss what to see and where to be seen this October.

+ Jeanne Damas and Lauren Bastide give their style guide to the City of Love.