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Fashion week redux..

By KH

September 28^th, 2020

Vivienne Westwood Paris Connie Girl

I’m celebrating Fashion Week by sharing some of my favorite images and thoughts from my archive.

This photo of Connie a.k.a. "Connie Girl" Fleming with friend Carlos Taylor is one of my favorites! I took this photo shooting backstage at the Vivienne Westwood show in ‘92. I always loved photographing backstage at the shows! The beautiful models, the super talented hair and makeup creations, the new season designs and of course that frenetic energy! There is always so much to take in and capture, especially at a Vivienne Westwood show. It's not always easy shooting backstage, it can be very tight quarters and can get really hectic. Of course, photographers are always in the way!

I can’t help but think back to my first days in New York. I used to be able to sneak into fashion shows because I had a camera, ha-ha! Once I got into a Ralph Lauren Polo show in his showroom. There couldn't have been more that 50 people in that showroom. It was so intimate and only for a very select group of editors and clients.

I recently reached out to Connie Fleming, the oh so talented fashion illustrator, Steven Meisel model muse, runway coach and BTLM advocate to ask her about her memories of that time.

CF: “Westwood Darling, WESTWOOD!!! It all started with the hunt for the correct penny. Fellow model & roommate at the time Desmond Cadogan was booked for Vivienne that season. She’d reached out to him requesting an object or fabric swatch that match his skin perfectly for a suit she was making him for the collection. Everyone in the house was enlisted in the hunt.

Can’t remember how but the penny was discovered to possess the correct color & undertones. While arranging the postal details he’d mentioned me and how fabulous it would be for us to walk together. Viv loved it and I was booked. Two cheap Air Pakistan Tickets later we were off to Paris. I’d walked for Vivienne the season before in New York, but this was different. It was PARIS and Vivienne had solidified her place in fashion history, no longer the Punk upstart, she was one of the great influential designers of all time.

We arrived and as always in my heart it’s was FUNNY FACE “Bonjour Paris” Fred, Audrey, & Kay.

Through the Saint-Honoré,

In the Rue de la Paix

That's for me:

Bonjour, Paris!

Alas no production number ending atop the Eiffel Tower but straight to our fittings. Desmond’s suit was fucking gorgeous!!! I had a matching suit dress that I’d take off while Dez pull down the hem of my body con mini to reveal a maxi for our défilé de la mode together.

GRAND HOTEL was an incredible collection filled with the innovative signature silhouettes Westwood is famous for. Just looking at the faces of her adoring fans in the audience, Gaultier, Alaia, Galliano, she did not disappoint. The perfect mix of Savile Row tailoring, sumptuous fabrics and prints, and the sensual sensibility of empowered femininity wowed everyone in the joint. It was after all “Westwood Darling, WESTWOOD”.

more images from Vivienne Westwood Paris Spring 93 ...

Kate Moss post hair crimping by Sam McKnight.

Bill Cunningham photographer extraordinaire

Kids he called us. Bill would say “I love what you kids are doing!” I was usually the hanger-on with fashion stylists and Dom Casual fashion line designers, Fondu and Walter S. They were the ones serving up the fashion for Bill to capture. He loved the young people; he loved the energy of the shows. I know Bill's life and work has been well documented, but seeing and talking to Bill was always a highlight. His work and personality are dearly missed at this time of year. If you spent any time around Fashion Week in NY, Paris, Milan, London, you saw Bill Cunningham photographing people, especially if you had a look that caught his eye! It didn’t have to be some over the top outfit, Bill was a fashion editor unlike most photographers who snapped away at the obvious. I sometimes would see Bill take a photo of someone overdressed as a consolation prize, as if to say keep trying, but when Bill saw someone with impeccable style he was on it in a split second, and you knew it was good if he took more than one frame. One of the reasons I enjoy photographing backstage at fashion shows is that there is so much is going on (?). To capture it you have to be quick and attentive. It reminds me of photographing a sports event. It’s spontaneous and ever changing. I recall many times just standing and watching Bill Cunningham work. He was amazing, he was so quick and didn’t use autofocus either. You could see him observing and then without a moment’s notice he would pull that camera up to his eye and shoot in a split second without skipping a beat or making the subject lose a step! Followed, of course, with a thank you smile! My memories of Bill go back to the 80s and I learned a lot by watching Bill Cunningham work. I miss Bill.

Kate and Carla backstage at the Anna Sui show

Kate Moss and Carla Bruni at the Anna Sui show. This was a special break though fashion show for Anna Sui. The model roster was star studded and all hands were on deck for this show. I was asked by Anna to photograph the show backstage and on the runway for "the house" as they would say. Looking back, I remember I was using my newly acquired 1970's Leica M4 a lot back then. A dear friend had bought the camera for a safari trip many years ago and had never used it since. It was a very generous gift and it changed the way I photographed. I was discovering a whole new perspective photographing with a rangefinder camera. It was exciting and visually expansive. Looking though that viewfinder instead of the lens had such an impact on how I saw photographs happen. I didn't realize how the camera was going to have an impact the photographs. Many times, the subjects were not aware they were being photographed. The size on the M4 and the quiet nature of the camera was really an asset for shooting indiscreetly, plus shooting available light there wasn't any flash or bright light going off. I truly don't think I would have been able to capture many of these photographs if I were using a flash with a bigger camera. The intimacy of these photos is really what makes this series of photos special to me. When I documented these backstage scenes, I was just photographing what I saw. Like many events from that time, you just happened to be at the right time and the right place.