{"id":172137,"date":"2026-11-04T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=172137"},"modified":"2026-11-04T12:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T17:09:28","slug":"does-a-fashion-brand-need-one-way-of-seeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/does-a-fashion-brand-need-one-way-of-seeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Does a Fashion Brand Need One Way of Seeing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>As fashion houses embrace multiple photographic perspectives, creative direction takes on a more editorial role.<\/li>\n<li>There is a difference between a recognisable photographic style and a recognisable house identity.<\/li>\n<li>A recognisable identity may have more to do with the perspectives a house brings together than with a single visual style.<\/li>\n<li>As brands branch out into zines, photo books, and full-fledged magazines, curation plays an increasingly important role behind the scenes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fashion houses have spent decades building distinct identities. Through image-makers and consistent creative collaborators, they\u2019ve crafted campaigns that have shaped public perception. Iconic pairings\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/juergen-teller\">Juergen Teller<\/a>&#8216;s long relationship with <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/marc-jacobs\">Marc Jacobs<\/a> in the 1990s, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/nick-knight\">Nick Knight<\/a>&#8216;s work for <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/dior\">Dior<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/steven-meisel\">Steven Meisel<\/a>&#8216;s campaigns for <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/versace\">Versace<\/a>\u2014are all examples of how a specific visual language becomes closely associated with a designer&#8217;s work. Over time, a photographer&#8217;s vision can come to represent the brand itself, with everything from the lighting and casting to the composition and the attitude of the people within the frame contributing to a recognisable visual identity. But as creative directors change more frequently, each bringing their own interpretation of an existing heritage, does an enduring label require a singular way of seeing?<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Versace&#8217;s Spring\/Summer 2026 campaign got me thinking. The ads challenged convention by bringing together a trio of photographers with distinct sensibilities. <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/steven-meisel\">Steven Meisel<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/versace-versace-spring-summer-2026-campaign\">constructed glamour<\/a> sits alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/frank-lebon\">Frank Lebon<\/a>&#8216;s more experimental analogue approach and Tania Franco Klein&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/versace-versace-ss-2026-by-tania-franco-klein\">cinematic compositions<\/a>, each offering a different interpretation of the same collection. Developed under <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/dario-vitale\">Dario Vitale<\/a> as part of Versace&#8217;s wider embodied initiative, the campaign gave each photographer space to bring their own interpretation. Franco Klein, for example, photographed their contribution in Mexico City, while Meisel stuck to his familiar in-studio approach. The differences went beyond the selection of models and looks; each set of pictures had its own atmosphere.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172146\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172146\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/VERSACE2.jpg\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\/ Photo: Courtesy Versace\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\/ Photo: Courtesy Versace\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/VERSACE2-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-172146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/VERSACE2-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/VERSACE2-1280x852.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/VERSACE2.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Versace by Frank Lebon and Steven Meisel \/ Photo: Courtesy Versace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What interested me was how little the campaign relied on making those images correspond to each other. Instead, the individual pictures were united by a shared understanding of Versace&#8217;s sensuality, irreverence, and the tension between Italian style and provocation. Their differences were central to the campaign&#8217;s character and creative direction.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a strategic advantage to this approach, especially given the way fashion imagery is consumed today. We might discover a magazine through an image on our feed\u2014perhaps through a photographer we follow, a model, an artist, or simply because it fits our aesthetic preferences. Sometimes we encounter their work before becoming familiar with the publication itself, and find ourselves eager to dive into a new visual world. Fashion houses could benefit from the same effect if they allow themselves to. When different contributors bring their own audiences and cultural associations, they allow a collection to travel through different corners of the internet. The challenge is to ensure that these audiences discover something recognisable about the house beyond the photographer&#8217;s own signature.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the way magazines have always worked. A publication can commission contributors with completely different visual languages while maintaining an unmistakable editorial authority. Its world is established through the subjects it explores, the places it visits, its typography, casting, editing, and the overall sensibility connecting the work. Filtered through audience expectations, this allows for a range of viewpoints: the photographer is invited to bring their own lens, but the publication decides how it connects to an overarching narrative. In some cases, magazines have managed to establish a clearer visual presence through this process than luxury labels that spend entire seasons producing campaigns with a uniform photographic treatment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172142\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172142\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/JUERGEN.jpg\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"Juergen Teller for Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent \/ Images Courtesy of Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"Juergen Teller for Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent \/ Images Courtesy of Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/JUERGEN-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-172142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/JUERGEN-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/JUERGEN-1280x851.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/JUERGEN.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172142\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juergen Teller for Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent \/ Images Courtesy of Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is something compelling about that distinction. As viewers, we often confuse consistency with identity, recognising a style through repeated visual decisions. When <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/juergen-teller\">Juergen Teller<\/a> began photographing <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/marc-jacobs\">Marc Jacobs<\/a> campaigns in 1998, his unusual compositions, candid approach, and deliberately unpolished images became central to our understanding of the house, defining its character throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. Today, that same signature language, now further developed through his shot-on-iPhone aesthetic, has travelled across <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/loewe\">Loewe<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/saint-laurent\">Saint Laurent<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/balenciaga\">Balenciaga<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/bottega-veneta\">Bottega Veneta<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/givenchy\">Givenchy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/salvatore-ferragamo\">Ferragamo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/vivienne-westwood\">Vivienne Westwood<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/victoria-beckham\">Victoria Beckham<\/a>, among others. Teller&#8217;s work remains unmistakably his, but when it appears across so many different houses, how much of that visual impact can any single label really claim? When the same visual signature appears across multiple houses, its identifying power becomes diluted, potentially flattening distinct brand identities into a similar aesthetic.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Fashion houses could benefit from the same effect if they allow themselves to. When different contributors bring their own audiences and cultural associations, they allow a collection to travel through different corners of the internet. The challenge is to ensure that these audiences discover something recognisable about the house beyond the photographer&#8217;s own signature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, the idea of several image-makers interpreting one collection isn\u2019t new. <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/nicolas-ghesquiere\">Nicolas Ghesqui\u00e8re<\/a>&#8216;s first <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/louis-vuitton\">Louis Vuitton<\/a> campaign in Autumn\/Winter 2014 brought together <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/annie-leibovitz\">Annie Leibovitz<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/juergen-teller\">Juergen Teller<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/bruce-weber\">Bruce Weber<\/a>, each photographing the line through their own lens. It was a compelling introduction to a new creative era because the campaign didn&#8217;t depend on immediately establishing a single visual treatment. Ghesqui\u00e8re&#8217;s vision was expressed through several interpretations, with the collection and creative direction providing the connection between them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/prada\">Prada<\/a> explored another version of shared authorship for Spring\/Summer 2026. The house invited <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/anne-collier\">Anne Collier<\/a> to work with photographs made by <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/Oliver-Hadlee-Pearch\">Oliver Hadlee Pearch<\/a>, turning original fashion images into objects within new compositions. A subsequent project by <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/jordan-wolfson\">Jordan Wolfson<\/a> incorporated Pearch&#8217;s imagery and the same cast into an entirely different artistic world. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/ferdinando-verderi\">Ferdinando Verderi<\/a>&#8216;s creative direction, the campaign became less about maintaining a single image treatment and more about exploring what a picture can become through another artist&#8217;s intervention. The contributions are visually distinct, but their relationship to photography, representation, and the construction of identity gives them a shared subject.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172141\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172141\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/PRADASS2.jpg\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"Prada SS26 \/ Image Courtesy of Prada\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"Prada SS26 \/ Image Courtesy of Prada\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/PRADASS2-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-172141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/PRADASS2-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/PRADASS2-1280x852.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/PRADASS2.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prada SS26 \/ Image Courtesy of Prada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The significant development here isn&#8217;t that luxury labels are suddenly working with multiple photographers in one campaign, but that creative direction can increasingly be understood as a form of editing. The role becomes one of deciding which artists to invite, how much freedom to give them, which interpretations belong together, and how their contributions extend an existing universe. Rather than asking every contributor to reproduce the same aesthetic, the house provides a point of view strong enough to accommodate their differences.<\/p>\n<p>What I find so compelling about this approach is that it also tests the strength of a brand&#8217;s core identity beyond photography. If several artists can interpret the same collection and the results still feel connected, the house has established something beyond a recognisable photographic treatment. The risk is that the photographer&#8217;s signature becomes more prominent than the brand itself, leaving several impressive images that communicate very little about the house. But when you can immediately tell, for example, &#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s Saint Laurent,&#8221; through different photographers, that speaks volumes.<\/p>\n<p>We can see this editorial approach extending beyond seasonal campaigns. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/a-magazine\">A Magazine Curated By<\/a><\/em> has spent more than two decades inviting designers to curate issues around their own cultural universes, bringing together photography, writing, art, and personal references to communicate something about the designer beyond the clothes. <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/saint-laurent\">Saint Laurent<\/a> has developed its own publishing programme through SL Editions, with books dedicated to artists including <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/juergen-teller\">Juergen Teller<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/gray-sorrenti\">Gray Sorrenti<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/henrik-purienne\">Purienne.<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/miu-miu\">Miu Miu<\/a>&#8216;s <em>Women&#8217;s Tales<\/em> similarly invites different filmmakers to interpret femininity through their own cinematic language. These projects aren&#8217;t conventional advertising campaigns, but rather more considered &#8220;brand activations&#8221; that show how a fashion house can build its cultural world through the perspectives of others.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172177\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/MiuMiu.jpg\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"Miu Women&#039;s Tales exemplifies collaboration \/ Image Courtesy Miu Miu\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"Miu Women&#039;s Tales exemplifies collaboration \/ Image Courtesy Miu Miu\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/MiuMiu-640x427.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-172177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/MiuMiu-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/MiuMiu.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miu Miu Women&#8217;s Tales film series exemplifies the breadth of collaboration between brand and artist \/ Image Courtesy Miu Miu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is a difference between inviting artists into an established universe and simply borrowing their cultural credibility. A well-known photographer, filmmaker, or artist can bring an audience and an established visual language, but commissioning someone because their work is distinctive doesn&#8217;t automatically make the result distinctive for the brand. Without a clear relationship between the contributor and the house, the project risks becoming a collection of impressive names rather than an extension of its creative DNA. A magazine faces the same challenge: it can commission extraordinary contributors and still fail to develop an editorial point of view.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the approach becomes particularly demanding of creative direction. If the photographs no longer share the same lighting, grading, or composition, something deeper needs to connect them. It might be the way a brand understands its characters, its attitude towards the body, its humour, its cultural references, or the relationship it creates between fashion and the world around it. Versace can accommodate three different photographers because each interpretation returns to an attitude associated with the house. <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/prada\">Prada<\/a> can move between Collier and Wolfson because the projects continue exploring the construction and interpretation of images. The creative direction gives those differences a reason to exist.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioning several photographers requires resources that smaller brands may not initially have, but the principle can work on a different scale. In my experience of art-directing campaigns, I&#8217;ve often seen a single production become responsible for everything from the main campaign to retail and social assets, with each department trying to accommodate its needs within the same shoot. It&#8217;s efficient, but it also means every image approaches the audience in much the same way\u2014through the same concept\u2014often with less thought and time given to its execution.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There is a difference between inviting artists into an established universe and simply borrowing their cultural credibility. A well-known photographer, filmmaker, or artist can bring an audience and an established visual language, but commissioning someone because their work is distinctive doesn&#8217;t automatically make the result distinctive for the brand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>An alternative could be to produce fewer main campaign images while inviting an emerging photographer to develop a separate interpretation for social media or another specific audience. Both could appear on the same platforms, offering different perspectives on the brand and its current season. Beyond reaching different audiences, this could also reveal which elements of a brand&#8217;s identity remain recognisable when its visual language changes.<\/p>\n<p>There is still enormous value in a long relationship between one photographer and a fashion house. Repetition can build depth as well as recognition, and some of fashion&#8217;s most memorable campaigns exist because a photographer and creative director developed a shared language over many years. But that is one way of building an identity, and certainly not the only way. A label can also become instantly recognisable through the people it chooses to bring into its world, the subjects it repeatedly returns to, and the editorial judgement that connects their contributions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172144\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172144\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/ACNE.jpg\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"Two views of Acne Paper\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"Two views of Acne Paper\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/ACNE-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-172144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/ACNE-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/ACNE-1280x852.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/11\/ACNE.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172144\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two views of Acne Paper: a cover by <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/carlijn-jacobs\">Carlijn Jacobs<\/a> and a story by <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/models\/malick-bodian\">Malick Bodian<\/a> \/ Images courtesy Acne Paper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fashion houses have far more in common with magazines than standard industry thinking suggests. As multiple brands\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/bottega-veneta\">Bottega Veneta<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/loewe\">Loewe<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/saint-laurent\">Saint Laurent<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/chanel\">Chanel<\/a>\u2014continue to expand their offerings of zines and books, the line between fashion houses and publishers continues to blur. <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/client\/acne-paper\">Acne Paper<\/a>, a benchmark for this approach under <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/thomas-persson\">Thomas Persson<\/a>&#8216;s editorial direction, offers a compelling example of what&#8217;s to come. Working with a changing network of photographers, artists, and writers, the publication has established its own editorial identity while remaining connected to the wider cultural world of the fashion house. Its consistency comes from the creative team&#8217;s editorial judgement and the contributors they bring together.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There is still enormous value in a long relationship between one photographer and a fashion house. Repetition can build depth as well as recognition, and some of fashion&#8217;s most memorable campaigns exist because a photographer and creative director developed a shared language over many years. But that is one way of building an identity, and certainly not the only way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A strong publication doesn&#8217;t need every contributor to see the world in the same way, because its identity lives in the decisions that bring those different viewpoints together. Fashion labels can approach their image-making with the same confidence, allowing photographers and artists to contribute something of their own while extending a world that already has a clear point of view.<\/p>\n<p>The question then becomes less about how consistently a house looks and more about how much difference its identity can accommodate, alongside the deeper connective tissue between those viewpoints. If a brand is only recognisable through a single visual style or photographer, that identity is more fragile than it appears. A stronger creative DNA is capable of changing photographers, styles, and mediums while still feeling unmistakably itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fashion houses use photographers to reinforce brand identity. But as creative directors change more frequently, each bringing their own interpretation of an established heritage, does an enduring label require a singular way of seeing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":456,"featured_media":172150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,15474,15361],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172137"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172140,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172137\/revisions\/172140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}