Robert Fairer (born 1966) is a British

fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography that portrays clothing and other fashion items. This sometimes includes haute couture garments. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking pictures of a dressed model in a photographic stu ...

who is known for his backstage photography in the 1990s until the 2010s. Working for American ''Vogue'', ''

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'' and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', his behind-the-scenes shots of

supermodel A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothin ...

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

ers, makeup artists, hair stylists and accessories designers would come to define the magazines 'front of the book'. His first solo exhibition 'Robert Fairer Backstage Pass: Dior, Galliano, Jacobs, and McQueen' was held at SCAD Fash Museum of Fashion. His work is included in the permanent collection of the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

and has been exhibited at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, The Design Museum, Musée national des beaux‑arts du Québec,

LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the

Early life and career

Fairer was born in 1966 in London. He grew up on

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

and was never without a camera. Being part of London's emerging art and fashion scene in the 1980s and 1990s, he began photographing friends and was encouraged to pursue a career in photography. Fascinated by wildlife photography, he traveled to Africa for three months with a telephoto lens to document the animals on the savannah. With the help of his wife and agent, he gained access to London Graduate Week in 1992, and photographed the

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

graduate show which featured the collection of Lee Alexander McQueen. Fairer graduated from London School of Printing in 1993, and soon became a household name at fashion week in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. With his Hasselblad camera, he discovered the backstage area by chance and began photographing behind the scenes beauty stories and supermodels minutes before they walked onto the catwalk. He was one of the only backstage photographers and the stories didn't exist in the fashion magazines at the time. He used a 35mm camera and changed to medium format in the 1990s before changing to digital. He would try to sell his stories after the catwalk shows and bring a suitcase with transparencies and a portable lightbox to magazine editors including Fashion Editor

Isabella Blow Isabella Blow (née Delves Broughton; 19 November 1958 – 7 May 2007) was an English magazine editor. She was mentor to Philip Treacy, and is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl, and fashion designer Alexander ...

at ''Vogue'' magazine and

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

at ''i-D'' magazine. From 1995 to 2001 he worked as a contributing photographer for '' Elle UK'', '' Harper's Bazaar US'' and ''InStyle'' magazine. In 2001 he was hired by American ''Vogue'' and became the magazine's contracted lensman working with Editor-in-chief

Anna Wintour Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...

and Fashion Editor

André Leon Talley André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 – January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, author, and editor-at-large of '' Vogue'' magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its f ...

on backstage, runway, editorial, celebrity and wedding stories. Directed to capture "life in the pictures," his backstage photographs would cover up to 15 pages in ''Vogue'' front of book. Having exclusive backstage access for a decade was made to a halt with the 2009 recession and arrival of social media. Fairer began digitizing his archive after working with the

on their publication accompanying the '' Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty'' exhibition in 2015. He has published five books devoted to his backstage photography. In 2021 his first solo exhibition 'Robert Fairer Backstage Pass: Dior, Galliano, Jacobs, and McQueen,' was held at SCAD Fash Museum of Fashion and curated by director of fashion exhibitions Rafael Gomes. The exhibition showcased the glamour and spirit of backstage from 1998 to 2010. It featured shots of supermodels

Gisele Bundchen '' Giselle'' is a ballet. Giselle, Gisele, Gisèle, Gisselle, may also refer to: People * Giselle (given name), a given name and list of people with the name * Gisele (given name) and 'Gisèle', a given name and list of people with the name * G ...

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

, makeup artists Pat McGrath and Val Garland, hair stylists Julien D'Ys and Orlando Pita, and milliners Stephen Jones and

Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) is an Irish haute couture Hatmaking, milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' magazine as "perhaps the greatest ...

Publications

* ''Alexander McQueen'': Unseen, Robert Fairer, Sally Singer, Claire Wilcox, 2016, * ''John Galliano: Unseen'', Robert Fairer, André Leon Talley, Claire Wilcox, 2017, * ''Marc Jacobs: Unseen'', Robert Fairer, Sally Singer, André Leon Talley, 2018, * ''John Galliano for Dior'', Robert Fairer, André Leon Talley, Oriole Cullen et al., 2019, * ''Karl Lagerfeld Unseen: The Chanel Years'', Robert Fairer, Sally Singer, Natasha A. Fraser, Elizabeth von Thurn und Taxis, 2022,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairer, Robert British fashion photographers 1966 births Living people Alumni of the London College of Printing People from Chelsea, London Photographers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Early life and career

Publications

See also

References