California Apparel News

A night of fashion and photography celebrated prolific photographer Michel Arnaud, during the Wednesday-evening unveiling of "Capturing the Catwalk: Runway Photography from the Michel Arnaud Archive," a new exhibition at the FIDM Museum and Library. Arnaud was inspired to donate his important work to the museum, after considering a suggestion of his late wife, Linda, who once advised him to contribute the photographs to the organization.

Following a generous donation of more than 200,000 photographs from Arnaud's archives, the FIDM Museum discovered that its collection of designer clothing included some of the pieces worn by models who were shot by the photographer.

Pairing 100 of the donated photographs with their complementary fashion pieces, the museum created an exhibition that documents an evolution of fashion from the 1970s to 1990s.

Of this period, Arnaud remembers how the expansion of fashion shows dictated the change in how he shot these events.

"The shows started with very small, very intimate spaces. One of the smallest shows was Sonia Rykiel and it would be in her shop," he said. "You had the editors, two or three photographers...then slowly more and more people were interested and they had two shows, three shows and they had to have a bigger space."

This period saw the advent of the supermodel, legendary designers and rise of larger fashion shows that were more entertainment productions than an opportunity to showcase apparel.

"Chanel was the most exciting shows in the 90s and late 80s. Gaultier was always exciting because it was totally unpredictable, very exciting fashion," Arnaud recalled.

Remembering the bygone supermodel era, before celebrities and social-media stars were featured on fashion magazine covers, Arnaud recalls the relationship between a photographer and these fantastic fashion personalities.

"They were great. They were temperamental, sometimes you couldn't shoot them backstage, but they were so polished. It was great to have them," he said. "You knew if you got a good shot of [Christy] Turlington, it would be in a magazine, so that is the way it fed itself."

Located within the downtown Los Angeles campus of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), the FIDM Museum offers complimentary admission to the exhibition. "Capturing the Catwalk: Runway Photography from the Michel Arnaud Archive" is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and will run until July 7, 2018.