The legacy of unconventional fashion photographer Corrine Day
In the 1990s, a nihilistic reaction against the mainstream took hold in the form of movements such as grunge and heroin chic. Certain artists, models, musicians and photographers rallied against the popular vision of beauty and culture that had dominated the previous decade, instead attempting to expose the not-so-glamorous lives of many young people during this period.
Heroin chic swept the fashion industry, with Kate Moss becoming a defining figure known for being incredibly thin. Not yet an adult, Moss was unlike most of the models that dominated magazine spreads; her slender frame and youthful appearance offered an alternative image of beauty that was equally celebrated and criticised.
The photographs of Moss that allowed her to rise to prominence were often candid and doused in realism. Sometimes, she looked genuinely melancholic and lost; other times, she had a huge smile on her face, which looked entirely natural. These images were far from the staged images that had defined fashion photography until this point, suggesting that a new era was underway – attitudes were changing, and so was the consumption of fashion marketing.
Corrine Day was one of the main photographers to introduce Moss to the world, immortalising her in celluoid when the model was just 15. At this point, Moss was a newcomer to the industry, but Day, who had tried her own hand at modelling for several years before, saw a kindred spirit in the teenager that she wanted to document.
Day spent the early years of her photography career in Milan after realising that she much preferred being behind the camera rather than in front of it. She lived on very little money, explaining on her website, “There we were struggling to pay the rent, living in a dump, surrounded by glamorous magazines that were so far away from our own level of living.” She believed that the images she took during this period “had an intimacy and a sadness about them,” which separated her photos from the glossiness typically associated with high fashion.
It was these images that landed Day a job at The Face, which led her to source out models to photograph and resulted in her discovery of Moss, who had recently signed with Storm. Following a shoot that took place in the front garden of Day’s Nan’s house – “The photographs were snapshots of nothing more than us hanging out in the suburbs where I grew up” – Moss and Day’s friendship was cemented.
One of the earliest shoots that Moss and Day worked on was ‘The 3rd Summer of Love’, which appeared in The Face in 1990. These images of Moss helped to establish her presence in the industry, yet they also reflected an era of disillusionment. Day wrote, “In the 1980s, you had to wear loads of make-up. I didn’t like the fake poses and phoney faces. I thought fashion photography came across all about the photographer instead of the person they photographed. Fashion magazines had been selling sex and glamour for far too long. I wanted to instil some reality into a world of fantasy.”
As Day’s career continued, her photographs were both lauded and criticised, mainly due to the often shocking realism she depicted. For example, her 1993 shoot ‘Under Exposed’, which featured a 19-year-old Moss in her underwear, her bones protruding and a lack of expression on her face, was labelled as inappropriate by many.
Although lots of Day’s photos were associated with heroin chic, the photographer was simply trying to capture the lives of those she was surrounded by, which included people facing poverty or drug addictions. Her images shocked many because they exposed the realities of the fashion industry. Not everything was glamorous or admirable – models were suffering from eating disorders and substance abuse issues, and Day simply revealed an uncomfortable truth with an uncompromising lens.
Day cited people like Nan Goldin as a major source of inspiration, a photographer who used her lens to document those on the margins of society, such as those facing addiction or AIDs. Until her tragic death in 2010 from a brain tumour, Day moved between documentary and fashion photography, and her work could be found in publications like i-D and Vogue.
Despite the criticism she often faced, Day wielded her camera with the same honesty as a social realist filmmaker, taking aim at the industry with an alternative angle that has forever changed the way we think about fashion.
