FORM WITHOUT SUBSTANCE
-- Dave Stabley
Runway girls are often compared to “human coat hangers.” In other
words: Models are just modes of transportation for garments. Even
Twiggy used the phrase to dismiss her groundbreaking career,
declaring when she retired: “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your
entire life!”
But as long as there have been models, there have been muses. A model
was the reason the painter picked up a brush, the sculptor a chisel. Just
as not every actress is Meryl Streep, models are not all equally skilled
or gifted. The best are translators, a visual representation of the story
the designer wants to tell. A model’s repertoire extends beyond duckface selfies or blank runway stares. For the past 60 years, models such
as Carmen Dell’Orefice, Linda Evangelista and more recently Karlie
Kloss have helped solidify modeling as an art form by collaborating
with designers and photographers. Top photographer Mario Testino
said of working with models with strong personalities: “I think that you
can’t do it any other way. Because then the pictures are nothing.”
Are some models clothes hangers? Certainly, just as some singers
can’t reach the high notes. But the best have always had the talent to
make us feel something.
In this composited photo set, I have attempted to show what the fashion
world would look like if you took the beauty, talent and personality of the
model out of the equation... it would no longer have any “substance.”
The design of the fashion remains, the “form” of the outfit remains, but
the appeal is significantly diminished with the lack of seeing it worn by
a face, body and personality the audience admires and can usually only
aspire to. There is a subconscious transference that occurs wherein
viewers see themselves in the outfit looking just as amazing as the
model wearing it. Without this, the appeal of the design would be lost
and the subsequent sales would be non-existent.
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NM CliQ Magazine | July 2016