{"id":77763,"date":"2025-11-18T16:22:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/?p=77763"},"modified":"2025-11-18T16:24:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:24:44","slug":"rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][vc_column_text]\n
\u00a9 Xueling Chen<\/h6>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]\n

In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cFashion imagery as a genre is more expansive than ever,\u201d says Violet Conroy, curator of <\/span>Rethinking Fashion Image<\/span><\/i>, an exhibition at the Lightboxes on Lower Stable Street in Coal Drops Yard, King\u2019s Cross. \u201cIt\u2019s less about clothing and more about an attitude, a mood, or a style \u2013 much of fashion imagery today is defined by a sense of place or people.\u201d Her words resonate in the red bricked underpass of Coal Drops Yard, which was once a Victorian coal depot, and now a network of restaurants, galleries, and gathering places in the shadow of Central Saint Martins. Amongst the food stalls are the works of nine current and former CSM photographers glowing softly in lightboxes. Together, they pose the question: <\/span>what does it mean to make a fashion image in 2025?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cEditorial, non-commercial fashion work is a space of great visual innovation and freedom,\u201d Conroy explains. \u201cIt\u2019s produced some of fashion\u2019s most iconic imagery, by people like Juergen Teller, Corinne Day and Tim Walker.\u201d Having just returned to London from Athens, where I interviewed Teller at his new Onassis Ready exhibition titled <\/span>you are invited<\/span><\/i>, the photographer\u2019s intimate artistic approach to fashion photography is on my mind. He has the ability to read his subjects not through their clothes, but through their contradictions: their ideas, vulnerabilities, and tensions. Perhaps no image captures Teller\u2019s irreverence toward fashion quite like his 2005 Marc Jacobs campaign featuring Victoria Beckham crawling out of an oversized shopping bag with her name and branding printed onto it. What could have been a glossy luxury advertisement instead became a subtle critique of consumerism and self-image. Teller\u2019s work continues fashion photography\u2019s conversation concerning authenticity, power, and the human body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of Teller\u2019s peers and successors studied at Central Saint Martins, a school whose alumni form a kind of visual genealogy of creative risk. Wolfgang Tillmans, Corinne Day, Rankin, Tim Walker, Harley Weir, Campbell Addy and many more have all reshaped how fashion is seen, transforming the genre and its legacy, and the artists in Conroy\u2019s exhibition continue that lineage, but also turn the gaze inward. For instance, Camille Lemoine photographs friends and family in the Scottish countryside. In one image, a model lies outstretched on a narrow path, swallowed by long sun-bleached grass that surrounds her. The clothes are barely visible, and what remains is a feeling of solitude and breath. Carina Kehlet Schou constructs her images as meditations on nostalgia and identity, balancing the staged with the emotional. For Coco Wu, the act of photographing begins long before the shutter clicks. She street casts strangers, spending hours walking or talking with them before taking a single frame. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”77764″ img_size=”FULL” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”77765″ img_size=”FULL” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]\n

\n

“Unconventional or surprising imagery is what excites me most \u2013 work that challenges what we think of as beautiful”<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Conroy explains the importance of casting: \u201cWe\u2019ve moved away from the impossibly aspirational imagery of the past into a more interesting and inclusive era of fashion. By casting non-professional models or people from their own communities, these images are much more striking, partly because they are out of the ordinary, but also because they challenge normative, outdated ideals of beauty in favour of something more awkward and real.\u201d Kaine Harrys Anamalu mixes sharp Italian tailoring with a critical eye on representations of the Black body. His work feels as much about authorship and history as about fashion itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked what threads she found among the works, Conroy identifies recurring motifs: \u201cI saw a deep and personal connection with nature (in the work of Camille Lemoine and Maya-Aska Arai), an interest in dismantling the glamour and artificiality of aspirational fashion imagery (Kaine Harrys Anamalu, Coco Wu, Rino Qiu) in favour of something that feels more like documentary photography. I picked the work that spoke to me visually first, and threads began to emerge later, with photographers working within and against the genre of fashion imagery.\u201d Across the exhibition, these photographers dismantle the glossy veneer of traditional fashion imagery. Their work feels intimate, grounded, and deeply human, as if the camera has turned away from aspiration and toward connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That connection to nature feels both visual and philosophical. Many of these photographers use the natural world not just as a location or backdrop but as collaborator, embracing weather and light as important and active elements in their storytelling. Fashion photography has long thrived on creating other-worldly fantasies in studio sets, yet here, images are shaped by the instability of daylight and the slow rhythm of the seasons. The landscape mirrors the self, as imperfect and ever changing.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”77768″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”77767″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Conroy is especially excited about the show\u2019s setting. \u201cDisplaying these works outdoors on Lower Stable Street means a wider audience can encounter them \u2013 people who might never step into a gallery. I want passersby to see this work and expand their idea of what fashion imagery even is.\u201d If the old fashion photograph sold unattainable fantasy, the new one seeks intimacy. In an age where every phone is a camera and every social platform a publishing tool, the question becomes: how can an image still move us? What can it reveal that we don\u2019t already know?<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s photographers seem less interested in perfection and more in presence and in what happens between the staged and the spontaneous. Shooting on iPhones, in bedrooms, or on the unstaged street corners, they have rediscovered what it means to make images that feel alive. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see how the next generation redefines the parameters of the fashion image,\u201d Conroy says. \u201cUnconventional or surprising imagery is what excites me most \u2013 work that challenges what we think of as beautiful, or what even counts as fashion.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”77772″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”77771″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Rethinking Fashion Image<\/span><\/a> is on at Lower Stable Street Lightboxes, Kings Cross, until 05 January, 2026<\/span><\/i>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31099,"featured_media":77773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[941,645,12248],"tags":[12722,10454,1039,4449,13611,12849,7893,10457,10511,13612,13613],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-77763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agenda","category-fashion","category-youth-culture","tag-aesthetics","tag-beauty","tag-central-saint-martins","tag-curator","tag-fashion-school","tag-group-show","tag-kings-cross","tag-london","tag-public-art","tag-public-exhibition","tag-violent-conroy","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\nNine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"1854 Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T16:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T16:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1875\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-18T16:22:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T16:24:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/63a71de3e2cf839f2efe7907f9743811\"},\"description\":\"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1875},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/\",\"name\":\"1854 Photography\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/63a71de3e2cf839f2efe7907f9743811\",\"name\":\"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6765d635d7a1c526059c97a696115e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6765d635d7a1c526059c97a696115e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/author\/sofiahallstrom\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography","description":"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography","og_description":"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/","og_site_name":"1854 Photography","article_published_time":"2025-11-18T16:22:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-18T16:24:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2500,"height":1875,"url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/","name":"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography - 1854 Photography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-18T16:22:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T16:24:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/63a71de3e2cf839f2efe7907f9743811"},"description":"In the Lightboxes at King\u2019s Cross, Violet Conroy curates imagery which presents fashion as less a materialistic choice and more about \u201can attitude, a mood\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xueling_Chen.jpg","width":2500,"height":1875},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/2025\/11\/rethinking-fashion-image-violet-conroy-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nine Central Saint Martins students and alumni reshape the forms and purposes of fashion photography"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/","name":"1854 Photography","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/63a71de3e2cf839f2efe7907f9743811","name":"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6765d635d7a1c526059c97a696115e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6765d635d7a1c526059c97a696115e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sofia Hallstr\u00f6m"},"url":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/author\/sofiahallstrom\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77763"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.1854.photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=77763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}