Models with Boy-Length Haircuts, New York, New York, 1949

Fashion photography is about more than “merchandise.” It attempts to convey a world, an atmosphere, character, maybe even values .

Do you feel Parks’ race is a factor in his fashion photography? Is Stockett’s race a factor in her writing? 

Fashion is a movement that excludes race, something that is universal- such as art. In Gordan Parks’s fashion photography, he mainly photographs woman’s styles. Such as this unusual (in the time) picture of women with “boy-length haircuts” This picture shows that woman can rock this kind of haircut, and can do what guys do. As well as this, the fact that it is labeled boy length can be considered misogyny as in that time- men were considered superior to women. This not only highlights the fashion trends, and the style but also subtly conveys this message.

Gordan Parks’s challenged the genre of fashion with new style and was able to bring out perspectives through his photographs. Emotions and feelings alongside the new styles by bringing out women’s empowerment through style &  fitting.

Though Gordan Parks is widely known for his searing photo essays that exposed the struggles of black Americans during the decades surrounding the Civil Rights movement, he also shot portraits and fashion spreads for both Life magazine and Vogue. most of Parks’s fashion photography was of white models, and one can interpret the increased complexity that would’ve accompanied these fashion shoots, particularly in that time, a time period when black men weren’t free to stare at white women, much less to instruct them on how to pose for the camera.

“The sensual wink of an eye or a mischievous smile could reduce the gown they wore to insignificance. That the wink or the smile failed to contribute to the mood I was creating seldom crossed their mind. It then became my responsibility to lull them into expressions more fitting to the clothes they were wearing. This consumed time—expensive time.” – G. Parks 1990

Gordan Parks focused extremely on the little details in order to enhance a picture’s outreach to an audience, inquisitively, a white, middle to rich-class audience. His pictures made sure that fashion was not only an advertisement for some material, but also conveyed some meaning, with emotion, women. and tone.

Stockett’s race may be a factor in her writing, as she is a white woman in the 2000 creating a story based on the experience of another race in a different time period. As well as this, the story is fiction and is inconsistent with real experiences. Not doing enough research, or having firsthand experiences makes it harder to write about an issue. Hence why the Help had a lot of backlash when published.