THESIS ON STEVEN MEISEL- IMPACT - PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE

Section I – “Biography and Early History”

Steven Meisel was born in 1954. He had a fascination with fashion, beauty, style and art from an early age.

In childhood, instead playing with toys like normal children, he would draw and sketch women, turning to magazines like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, focusing on fashion editorials shot by photographers such as Bert Stern, Irving Penn, Jerry Schatzberg, Melvin Sokolsky, Norman Parkinson, Richard Avedon, Richard Bailey and Richard Claxton. He became also obsessed with the models featured in these editorials such as Dorian Leigh, Evelyn Tripp, Jean Shrimpton, Peggy Moffitt, Penelope Tree and Twiggy.

At 12 years old he asked girlfriends of his to call modeling agencies under the pretense of being secretaries for Richard Avedon to get pictures and portfolios of the models. He also stood out in front of Melvin Sokolsky's NY studio at the time to try to meet Twiggy.

The articles/editorials of aristrocatic models/high society/model-actresses such as Angelica Houston, Babe Paley, Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Claudia Cardinale, Gloria Guinness, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Jane Birkin, Lee Radziwilli, Marella Agnelli and Marisa Berenson were of major influence on him as well.

From this point we went on to study at the NY High School of Art and Design and continued at Parsons School of Design NY where he took general art courses but wound up majoring in Fashion Illustration. During his time at Parsons School of Design, he met and started his close relationship with Anna Sui, who at the time was a fashion design student at Parsons. Anna Sui wound up being a wardrobe stylist/collaborator/contributor/member of Meisel's "GLAM SQUAD" early photography work during the 1980's from his test shoot days, through to his shoots for WWD/LEI/PER LUI.

After college his first job was working as an illustrator for Halston in the 1970's. His day at Halston was his first "real job" in fashion and opened up some doors, but only in terms connected to Fashion Illustration.

But it did lead to a new Illustrator position at Women's Wear Daily which would be crucial in influencing his forays into photography. The position at Halston was limited in exposure compared to what Women's Wear Daily provided, which was so much more.

Since WWD was a publication, Meisel was able to experience and see other facets which only a magazine could provide, mainly editorial production, photography, runway journalism and trend/collection forecasting, etc.

Because of this experience he gained confidence to approach the Elite NY Agency where he was given the opportunity to test their new models. He started to test their models on the weekends or after hours during the week day, where he still worked at WWD.

One of the models he wound up testing was the model/actress Phoebe Cates, who at the time was a new face with Elite. Her images, as well as other images of models he shot wound up being shown to the editors at Seventeen Magazine via appointments/castings/go-sees/submissions by the Elite agents.

The editors at Seventeen made inquiries to Elite about who shot the images on the girls and subsequently contacted Meisel and offered him editorial work with Seventeen Magazine, leading to work for WWD as well as other publications, transitioning him from being an illustrator to becoming a working photographer.

An interesting side note, here is a video clip link (via YouTube.com) of Meisel during this period is from his role in the movie "PORTFOLIO".

The YouTube.com link is as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1FFKCkkfk4

This clip is rare not only because Meisel is famously known to be publicity/media/interview shy, but it shows him within a project that was in the start of his career and outside of himself as being an established photographer or ICON. This can be correlated with the image included in TheImagist.com original posting of our THREAD SERIES on Meisel, which showed a B/W picture of Meisel and Downtown Club Celebrity Terri Toye.

These are RARE EXAMPLES of MEISEL to be found, not only because of their time period reference, but also connected to the lack of further images/interviews/clips of MEISEL afterwards, which paralleled with his rise in FASHION as a PHOTOGRAPHER...Outside of the occasional group/background/"BLOW UP" type images from Italian Vogue of himself half

concealed by a camera or in his trade mark hood, there are no other images/interviews/clips of MEISEL as revealing as these. In my opinion, it just shows Meisel’s GENIUS in creating himself and his image as an ICON as his photography career rose.

Section II – “EARLY WORKS / 1980'S”

In the 1980's, after having transitioned into a working photographer, Meisel’s photographic career took off when he started working for publications such as legendary magazines such as Lei and Per Lui. One of his first shoots for Lei was commissioned as a "ski story", which he helped reinterpret as a "punk ski" story, instead of the usual "snow bunny" concept. The Lei and Per Lui introduced him to Francesca Sozzani, who was the Editor-In-Chief for Lei starting in 1980 and Per Lui in 1982. He had met Francesca Sozzani late 1979 when she took a trip to NYC, after having been appointed as editor of Italian Glamour at the age of 28, when he had only test pictures in his book.

She also met and found the work of Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts and Peter Lindbergh during this trip, all of whom were establishing their names in the industry. Sozzani would later take these photographers that she met during her NYC trip in late 1979 (Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts and Peter Lindbergh) to become main contributing photographers for Italian Vogue as well. A cross reference link for some of Ms. Sozzani's collaborations for Italian Vogue in 1988 can be accessed via this link to www.theimagist.com, featuring a "LEGENDARY MAKEOVER - MASCHILE" editorial by Peter Lindbergh. Link is as follows: http://www.theimagist.com/taxonomy/term/272

When Francesca Sozzani took over the position of Editor-In-Chief of Italian Vogue (and its sister magazine L'Uomo Vogue) in 1988, she gave Meisel the front cover and main fashion/celebrity editorial spreads, which he still maintains to this day. From this collaborative start the careers of Meisel, Sozzani and the position of Vogue Italia exploded. All three are now considered at the top level of influence in fashion and its related media related orbits.

During this period of Meisel and Sozzani's collaboration and because of their work together, Vogue Italia was able to contribute and chart a new change in fashion, which was the rise of the brand logo, power suit and the beginning of the supermodel, led by Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, the "HOLY TRINITY" Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell.

Because of this collaboration, it leads to introduction position as main contributing photographer for Vogue US under Anna Wintour. Thus he is a major contributor/collaborator for two of the three "FATES OF FASHION" publications - Vogue Italia, Vogue U.S.....the third sister "FATE OF FASHION" publication, Vogue Paris, he's had some limited history with, including his famous interview with Ingrid Sischy.

During the 1980's, media and fashion was mainly based in the "ANALOG/HARD COPY" world, before the rise of the digital revolution and the net. Thus fashion magazines and the parent publication houses such as Conde Nast, Hearst, etc. dominated, influencing at a trickle down theory from the editors to the consumer. The only street movements at the moment that were happening in contrast was the English street movement in London and the hip hop movement in NY, which were still both marginal and not influential other than in those specific cities.

Fashion at this time was mainly centered in Europe, meaning the progressive cities of Paris and London as well as the more commercial fashion center of N.Y. During this period fashion was either very DYNASTY/POWER SUIT/SUPER GLAM, which can be seen in the works of designers such as Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, Gianni Versace, Fendi, and Genny. There were some avant-garde movements in Paris, especially in the works of J.P. Gaultier and the Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garcons and Issey Miyake.

Here are quotes and text from a NY Times article with Francesca Sozzani (by Amy M. Spindler, published September 13th 1998) - Weblink: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E6D81631F930A2575AC0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all that further illustrates Ms. Sozzani's method in collaborating with photographers as well as her take on the fashion in the 1980's and the ripple effect/changes that her editorship for Italian Vogue/L'Uomo Vogue started:

++"''At the end of the 80's, fashion became really old,'' she said. ''We wanted to give a message of being glamorous and happy. And we said the most glamorous and happy time was the 60's. In October, when I went to see the shows, everything was the 60's, and I said, what did I do? Because on the runway it looked awful. We did a big mistake. But at the same time, I realized how much Vogue was a reference for the first time.''

When she took over the magazines, she inherited a business run by the decree of the advertising staff. It was at the height of the most vulgar 80's excesses, and Ms. Sozzani couldn't find clothes that met her stringent esthetic criteria. So she had a woman photographed in a white shirt and blue jeans for the July/August 1988 cover. ''We shot a lot of white shirts in those days,'' she said.

The Milanese fashion powers were not content. ''We almost lost all the advertising clients,'' she said.

They became less content when, for her first couture issue, she put Yves Saint Laurent on the cover. It provoked a gentlemanly rebuke from the head of Valentino, Giancarlo Giametti, who had got used to seeing his outfits on the cover of that particular couture issue under previous editors. Ms. Sozzani recalled: '' 'The first couture issue,' Giametti said, 'that's my cover.' Everybody was a little bit scared because they were use to having 10 pages each issue. Not just the big designers, but everyone. The smallest clients, as soon as they'd advertise, they'd get their Vogue editorial pages.''

What developed instead was an unusual relationship where designers started looking to Ms. Sozzani for direction, including asking her advice on how to shape their ad campaigns. It gave Italian Vogue a power that few fashion magazines attain, and some would see as a conflict of interest. Italian Vogue wasn't trying to inspire a woman in a department store; it was trying to inspire the designers who dressed them.

''Italian and L'Uomo Vogue have always been something of trade publications, like W is now,'' said Stefano Tonchi, who worked with Ms. Sozzani at L'Uomo Vogue and is the creative fashion director of Esquire. In other words, the magazines are perused with fervor by insiders to the fashion trade, who are not only educated in fashion but also indoctrinated. ''Which is why W can be more provocative and interesting and on the edge than American Vogue or Harper's Bazaar,'' Mr. Tonchi said.

What Ms. Sozzani did was stop linking her coverage to the collections in the instructive way most American magazines do. Instead, she politely invited designers to follow her.

''Sometimes it works, sometimes not,'' she said. ''Sometimes we're too early and we have to go back.''

The pressures to produce a fat magazine with lots of advertising and million-mark circulation have put a heavy burden on the creativity at American magazines. The cover that sells best at the newsstand isn't necessarily the most creative one; market tests dictate what the choice should be. Editorial spreads with the most progressive ideas aren't necessarily the ones readers like best; researchers test-market the layouts and even individual photo.

An odd thing has happened in America as marketing has intruded into fashion photography. Advertising has become more creative than many magazines' editorial spreads. And many of those advertisers have been getting their ideas from European magazines like Italian Vogue."++

Towards the end of this period, as Meisel established his position as the main photographer for Italian Vogue, he helped create the "HOLY TRINITY" of supermodels - Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, which would carry through to the 90's with those models' careers as being at the top. Meisel would also continue his position as the model maker, always picking new models to feature, thus establishing the new discoveries on the fast track to super model status.

A kismet moment that happened in conjunction during this same time period is when Anna Wintour took over the helm of Vogue US in 1988 from her former position at Mirabella Magazine; she assembled a core group of photographers such as Meisel, Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. This is perhaps where Sozzani had met and assembled her team for Italian Vogue during Sozzani's exploratory trip to NY in 1988

During this period of Meisel and Sozzani's collaboration and because of their work together, Vogue Italia was able to contribute and chart a new change in fashion, which was the rise of the brand logo, power suit and the beginning of the supermodel, led by Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, the "HOLY TRINITY" Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and

Naomi Campbell. Thus Meisel started his first forays for US Vogue.

Here is an interesting article that further illustrates the history of the “HOLY TRINITY” written by Alex Williams for NY Magazine, published March 31^st 2003.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/anniversary/35th/n_8578

Text from Article:

It all started quietly enough. In 1986, photographer Steven Meisel, hairstylist Oribe Canales, and makeup artist François Nars imported a California teenager named Christy Turlington into Meisel’s Park Avenue studio to shoot her for British Vogue. Within days, Turlington introduced Meisel to a teenage Brit named Naomi Campbell, and he in turn introduced her to a forbiddingly sleek Canadian named Linda Evangelista. “The Trinity” was born, and was soon a sensation on the runways and nightclub dance floors of New York. They became known by their first names only - Christy, Naomi, and Linda. (The true supermodels were known on a first-name basis. Sorry, Stephanie. Sorry, Kristen.)

Section III – “NTERNATIONAL POWER PLAYER / 1990'S”

During the 1990's, Steven Meisel spring boarded from his initial parallel connections and collaborations with Francesca Sozzani and Anna Wintour. He had connected as a core group of photographers for both editors' new positions with Vogue Magazines in 1988. With Sozzani it stemmed from his previous relationship with her for Lei and Per Lui timed with her new position as the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia. His relationship with Wintour started when she left Mirabella to take on the Editor-in-Chief position of Vogue U.S. Both connections were strangely parallel in connection with all three's beginnings of accession in the business.

Another product of this parallel rise was the "SUPERMODEL HOLY TRINITY" creation, which created the SUPERMODEL term, set the status of Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell as SUPERMODELS but also contributed to the success of Meisel, Sozzani, Wintour and the respective Vogue Magazine editions each Editor-in-Chief were responsible for.

As the success of all persons involved in this EXPLOSION of CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS accelerated, Meisel's personal influence as a photographer rose with new opportunities to shoot for additional Conde Nast Magazines, Advertising Campaigns, discover new models and artists for his "GLAM SQUAD".

Here are expanded details of how Meisel's career and influence changed during the 1990's, listed in semi-specific categories -

Editorial/Magazine Publications -During this time period of the 1990's,

Meisel started, built and reinforced his position as a major editorial photographer, both through his transitioned positions with Vogue

Italia and Vogue US, and consequentially connected new opportunities with other Conde Nast Publications.

Meisel took his newly created relationship with Sozzani and Wintour, via their respective Vogue editions, to create and consolidate a platform where his premiere position as the COVER and MAIN EDITORIAL photographer led to his RISE and DOMINANCE as a INDUSTRY INSIDER leader, pioneer and visionary.

A notable CONDE NAST publication addition to his resume would be ITALIAN GLAMOUR’s first premier run covers and editorials early in the 1990s.

The ITALIAN GLAMOUR opportunity was directly connected to his relationship to Sozzani, and her expanded influence within CONDE NAST and specifically CONDE NAST Italy editions. He became the main cover and editorial photographer for ITALIAN GLAMOUR, and most notably was known for having discovered supermodel FRANKIE RAYDER in 1992, when she was submitted

her pictures by her mother agent/mother agency/model scout/manager from Minneapolis in 1992.

Meisel received Polaroids of the newly discovered FRANKIE RAYDER (at that time she was known by her birth name/given

name –HEIDI RAYDER) and promptly flew her to NY to shoot her in his studios.

The images resulting from this shoot were deemed amazing enough by MEISEL to print them for a COVER and MAIN EDITORIAL spread for ITALIAN VOGUE. However, Meisel deemed to fine tune details of the shoot, specifically the model's name, from HEIDI RAYDER to be changed and credited as FRANCESCA RAYDER. By changing the model's name from HEIDI RAYDER to

FRANCESCA RAYDER illustrates Meisel's genius in not only discovering new talent from any sources submitted to him, whether by scouts/model agents-mother agents or secondary agents/models directly/model managers, taking a risk to bring them to NY to shoot, but then pushing the images of the models for main cover/editorial spreads, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY to have enough finesse to fine tune the mystique/marketing/icon potential in changing the model's name to an ALTEREGO/PSEUDONYM/SUPERMODEL-NYM.

He also expanded and reinforced his position as a MAJOR EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER/CONTRIBUTOR for other CONDE NAST editions such as L'UOMO VOGUE, VOGUE HOMMES, and BRITISH VOGUE. As his editorial influence and domination grew within CONDE NAST, it attracted the attention of clothing designers, which developed into establishment with top CLOTHING/DESIGNER CAMPAIGNS such as CK/CALVIN KLEIN, PRADA/MIU MIU, DOLCE & GABBANA/D&G.

Two of Meisel’s initial advertising campaigns for CK were groundbreaking. The first campaign, which was a print and television commercial featured a unisex group of minimally dressed set of “downtown” types all standing and conversing in a stark white seamless studio, heavily influenced by Avedon’s earlier pioneering studio portraiture series from the 1960’s and 1970s. This campaign was art directed by Fabien Baron, featuring a unisex cast of models, actors and musicians to showcase the CK One’s unisex fragrance marketing, starred such models as Kate Moss, Lois Samuels, Stella Tennant and musicians as Joi, Donavan Leitch and Actors Jenny Shimizu.

The second campaign for CK Jeans was the very controversial “BASEMENT REC ROOM” shoot featuring pubescent male and female models in provocative poses heavily influenced by Larry Clark’s work from the 1970’s “Tulsa” series. It received quite a backlash of criticism on its semi “child porn” erotic imagery, especially for using then new discovery Karen Ferrari. The critics generated quite a lot of discourse about the images, however all the publicity generated was good publicity, sales of CK Jeans went up, and it was found out that all the models were of legal age.

During this time period of consolidation Meisel began creating an established crew of members for his “GLAM SQUAD”. Some of these regulars included as hairstylists Garren, Guido Palau, Oribe Canales, Orlando Pita, make up artists Francois Nars, the late Kevyn Aucoin, Laura Mercier, Pat McGrath. All these artists wound up rising with Meisel and from their collaborations, segued early editorial success into major careers with other photographers, celebrities as well as growth in their own companies for hair /beauty products, salon chains, creative/editorial/consulting/spokemanship positions for magazines and leading companies.

Regarding models, here is a short list of model discoveries and modeling trends that Meisel is credited to have started in 1990’s:

"PAST ICONS OF MODELING" Donna Mitchell, Patti Hansen, Peggy Moffitt, Veruschka;

"WHITE BLONDES" such as Cristina Kruse, Esther de Jong, Jade Parfitt, Kirsty Hume, Nadja Auermann

"RETRO SEX BOMB BRUNNETTES" Shana Zadrick, Helena Christiansen, Magali, Jayne M., Francesca Rayder discovered in the mid 90's for Italian Glamour and reborn as Frankie Rayder the late 90's, Amanda Moore, discovered in the early 90's as a long haired brunette ingénue and reborn as a short haired cropped model just recently;

The "NEW TRINITY" Erin O'Connor, Karen Elson, Maggie Rizer;

"Belgian Invasion" Anne Catherine, Roos, Annock LePere, Aan Oost, Hannelore Knuts

“ELEGANTLY TWISTED" Amy, Wesson, Kristen McMenamy, Audrey Marnay, Guinever V., Missy Rayder, Jacquetta Wheeler, Stella Tennant, Sunniva, Kyrie, Kylie Bax, Shalom, May Anderson, Trish Goff

"HAUTE & RAW" Angela Lindvall, Danielle Zinaich, Bridget Hall, Eva Herzigova, Tasha Tilberg, Shirley Mallman, "RETRO ELEGANT BRUNNETTES" Aurelie Claudel, Chandra North, Vivienne Solari,

"HITCHCOCK ICE BLONDES" Georgina Grenville, Carolyn Murphy, Carmen Kass, Liisa Winkler, Kirsten Owen, "BRAZILIAN INVASION" Gisele, Adriana Lima, Fernanda Tavares, special listing

"CELBRITY MODEL/MODEL CELEBRITY" such as Donovan Leitch, Bijou Phillips, Jenny Shimizu, Michele Hicks, Jodie Kidd.

Another interesting collaboration was Madonna’s coffee table book “Sex” which was released on October 21^st 1992, one day after the release of her 5^th studio album Erotica. This book was a huge success in terms of sales, due to the hype surrounding the books controversial graphic subject matter, which basically were various depictions of simulated sexual fantasies of Madonna and her alter ego Dita, based on the silent screen star Dita Parlo.

The book was sealed in a Mylar wrapper, spirally bound in a metal cover and had oversized color images shot by Meisel as well as Super 8mm stills taken by the project art director Fabien Baron. The book had Madonna shot by herself and interacting in various scenarios with unknown faces, model discoveries, established model Naomi Campbell, actress Isabella Rossellini, actor Udo Kier, Rappers Vanilla Ice and Big Daddy Kane, night club promoter Ingrid Cesares, the late gay porn star Joey Stefano, and celebutante Tatiana Von Furstenberg.

The book was a huge commercial success, having sold 150,000 copies on it’s premiere day in the US and went on to sell out it’s 1.5 million copies worldwide within 3 days, making it the most successful coffee table book to date.

Meisel’s rise and consolidation of photographic influence during the 1990’s can also parallel the rise of the internet and digital technology for the same time. The internet went from a few loosely connected information sharing networks into the world wide means of connecting individuals that it is today. Technology went from being an analog/hard copy based world into the digital transference of all tech based devices (music, film, television, photography, art) affecting all of our lives in major and insightful ways daily. This revolution started out with a whisper, but has become a supernova, changing the way our lives are lead, and it’s still yet to arc, with many more changes to come. It has lead to quite a lot of conveniences, new ways for us to express and communicate, but has it’s share of hardships as well, such as the loss of jobs and the growing disparity between those who have knowledge and access to the new technology, and the have not’s.

The digital revolution also has started the loss of influence by traditional media communication (such as magazines, newspapers, music, television and standard film photography) with the rise in power by the new powerhouses in media communication (websites, streaming media and content, file sharing programs, blog sites, digital and online magazines).

Meisel’s work and manner of photography has changed like many other photographers, where images were filmed on film in the beginning of their careers to now having every image shot on digital film, sometimes with multiple cameras, support crew and digital retouching / imagers on set.

Section IV - "CURRENT WORK FOR THE HYPER-INFORMATION AGE / THE NEW MILLENIUM - 2000 to PRESENT"

We now can fast forward from the start of the new millennium to present times, where Steven Meisel is arguably at the top of his game in terms of influence and power within the fashion, modeling and advertising industries and their varying intersecting areas of confluence.

He is still the main photographer for both Italian and US Vogue, and contributes to almost every main clothing advertising print campaigns, including Valentino, Versace, Dolce y Gabana, Calvin Klein and all the Prada Campaigns since 2004. His friend Anna Sui has become a design success, so he shoots all of her company’s various campaigns as well. His influence for jumpstarting careers of models and artists is in full effect. Some models he’s discovered or introduced in this millennium have been Agyness Deynn, Anastassia Khozisova, Behati, Bette, Caroline Trentini, Cecilia, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha, Daria Werbowy, Denisa Dvorakova, Diana Dondoe, Dovile, Du Juan, Doutzen, Elise Crombez, Eugevnia Volodiana, Elise Crombez, Isabeli Fontana, Lindsay Ellingshon, Freja Beha, Gemma Ward, the late Heather Bratton, Heather Marks, Hilary Rhoda, Hye Park, Iselin, James Rousseau, Jaunel McKenzie, Jeisa Chiminazzo, JP, Karolina Kurkova, Kesenia, Julia Dunstall, Lara Stone, Liliana Dominquez, Lily Cole, Lily Donaldson, Lisa Cant, Liya Kedebe, Lonneke, Luca, Maria Carla Boscono, Marina Perez, Michelle Alves, Milagros Schmoll, Nicole Trunfio, Ohmahyra, Natalia Voidanova, Natasha Vojnovic, Querelle, Raquel Zimmerman, Rianne Ten Haken, Maja Latinovic

Snejana Onopka, Sasha Pivovarova, Shannan Click, Stam (Jessica Stam), Suvi, Tanya D, Tayla, Travis Marshall, Valerie Sipp,Vlada, "CELEBRITY MODEL/MODEL CELEBRITY" Lydia Hearst, Lizzy Jagger, Margherita Missoni, Alexandra Richards, Theodora Richards, Anna Cleveland, Rie Rasmussen, Lou Doillon, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

His core groups of artists in the “GLAM SQUAD” are now at the top of their respective fields, enjoying both commercial and editorial/critical successful positions in their careers. His technical growth in photography has developed into a fully digital crew, rivaling those of any movie or video set, with support crew in cameras, lighting, set design, props, photo assistants, digital retouching/imaging, as well as the usual wardrobe, hair and make up artists and their various assistants. He released an eponymous book in 2003 via publishing house Tenues Buchverlag, which was an immediate sell out.

One can say that he is at the top of his game, but here are some proposals/theories as to how Meisel and others in the fashion/advertising/photography industries need to keep current in the present day’s techno-hyper information age of overload:

• Explore new venues to consider in terms of editorial / photographic assignments. Consider the rise in online magazines, blog sites, model and fashion based resource sites (models.com, Wikipedia.com, fashionforum.com) as well as specific niche groups within networking sites (Facebook.com, Myspace.com, Aol.com) related to fashion. Contrast it with the waning influence of traditional hard copy magazines and trade newspapers.

• Explore further growth beyond just photography, creating more of an online presence, expanding into digital and video art, museum and gallery exhibitions, perhaps creating their own showcase to feature their own work and collaborate with others (see Nick Knight’s Showstudio.com website and current web/digital presence for his own personal work and collaborations with new and upcoming contributors).

• Look beyond just the traditional fashion markets of London, Milan, Paris and New York towards the upcoming fashion markets/fashion week/collections of Brazil, India, Shanghai, Sydney. Also understand the respective related consumer markets to be found in these emerging markets, especially in China, India, Russia, South East Asia (Vietnam, Thailand), Brazil and Africa in the next few decades once the aids crisis has been stabilized and infrastructure has been built.

-Fully understand the dynamic growth of the global market and economy, as well as capitalizing on the new revolution where media is now being seized by the consumer in an individual “a la carte” nature. Also coupled with the growth in niche communities being created through the net, for the likeminded individuals to share and express interests, but also allow platforms for new emerging voices/artists/opinions to succeed at a much quicker time than past traditional paths were ever able to.

-Understand and create a meaningful impact beyond just a legacy of work; perhaps create a charity to contribute to various charities, establish a foundation to discover but foster new emerging talent or find new ways to join various fields of media with tech advances to create a completely new format of expression (see the emerging digital/video artists for a perfect example)