Robert Mapplethorpe: Fashion Show

Posted by Fabio 24 September 2013

A groundbreaking show of work by Robert Mapplethorpe, many photographs being shown for the first time. For Fashion Show, Alison Jacques has collaborated with Mapplethorpe’s first long-term boyfriend, model and artist David Croland. Croland, photographed by David Bailey, Duffy and Bill King became the subject of a number of Mapplethorpe works including Polaroids and unique works. He first met Mapplethorpe in 1970 and as his boyfriend was instrumental in ensuring Robert got to know and socialise with some of the most inventive figures in the fashion world. Silver Gelatin and Polaroid portraits of people such as Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint-Laurent, Ossie Clark, Loulou de la Falaise, Marisa Berenson and Grace Jones form an important facet of this exhibition by giving insights into these icons at important moments in their careers.

Mapplethorpe’s role as artist as opposed to purely a photographer is evident throughout the show and in particular in the wearable sculptures/jewellery he made in the ’70s of which a small group will be shown together for the first time in London.

Robert Mapplethorpe
Fashion Show
Alison Jacques Gallery
11 September – 5 October 2013