Our perspective on who represents us in imagery
There’s been plenty of conversation on social media about women over 40, 50 and 60 being missing from fashion imagery. Women want to see clothes on someone they recognise themselves in. I understand that. I’m over 50 myself, and I design for women whose lives, bodies and wardrobes continue to evolve.
I also spend a fair bit of time on the other side of the camera, making the decisions about who wears our clothes and how we photograph them.
So, I wanted to open the studio door and explain what happens behind the images you see at Philosophy Australia. Because there are several different jobs being asked of fashion photography, and the distinction matters.
Modelling is a profession
A professional model brings far more to a shoot than looking lovely in an outfit.
She understands how to move so you can see the shape of a garment. How to show a sleeve, a neckline or the fall of a pant. How to respond to direction, change quickly and give the photographer what’s needed, consistently, across a very long day.
There’s a rhythm to it, and an enormous amount of skill. I have absolute admiration for the women who do it well.
When I joined Philosophy in 2008, we could shoot for four days, with two or three models each day. Each model might work through around 70 outfits.
If that doesn’t sound exhausting, believe me, it bloody well is!
Eighteen years later, a single shoot day is plenty for me, and I’m not even the one behind the curtain, constantly putting clothes on and taking them off. We now cap our shoots at eight hours; once upon a time, they could run closer to ten.
The energy, stamina and professionalism required are considerable. Those are qualities I look for in an individual model, whatever her age.
A model in our lookbook shoots is representing the garment, as opposed to representing herself or other women.
Our models have aged with us
When we find women who bring all of that to a shoot, we book them again.
Look back through our collections and you’ll see familiar faces returning season after season. Some have worked with us for well over a decade. I’ve known them through engagements, weddings, first babies, second babies and, in some cases, a third, with our kids now in HSC mode.
There’s a lovely, shared history in that.
They’ve grown older alongside the brand, our customers and my team. I could continually replace them with younger faces, but I choose to keep working with women who understand our clothes and bring so much to the day.
Kelly, who you’ll recognise from many of our images, is also our fit model. She has the size 10 measurements we use to develop our samples, and she’s worked with Maria, our pattern maker, and I for long enough to understand exactly what we’re looking for.
Her feedback about how a garment feels and moves is part of the work that happens before you ever see it.
Models and influencers bring different skills
An influencer or content creator has a different brief. Her audience follows her perspective, her styling and her personal relationship with clothes. Naturally, she considers whether an outfit feels right for her and the community she’s built.
A model’s brief is to communicate the collection, including pieces she might never choose for her own wardrobe.
Both roles involve hard work. Creating content includes planning, styling, filming and editing, often with a great deal happening behind the scenes. Depending on the brief, creators can work at their own pace, rather than to the schedule of a studio team photographing an entire collection.
Some women are brilliant at both. Brooke @brookefalvey, Bel @missboi and Stacey @stace_mcgregs are great examples we work with. Others are professional models who have no desire to become influencers, or excellent creators whose skills suit a different kind of shoot.
For our studio days, we need women experienced in the demands of modelling a wholesale collection. We are always interested in hearing from experienced models based in Sydney, including those in older age groups, but alas the breadth of choice with agencies and solo representative models in this demographic has always been limited.
I believe that it is because as women hit their "My era" they are past choosing this as career.
Why our studio samples are a size 10
This is another question I’m often asked: if Philosophy offers sizes 8 to 24, why are the studio photographs taken on a size 10 model?
The answer starts with when those photographs are taken.
Philosophy is predominantly a wholesale label. We photograph a collection around six to nine months before it arrives in boutiques or goes live online. At that stage, the clothes haven’t gone into production. What we have are the showroom samples, which we develop in a size 10.
Those images become our lookbook. Boutique owners use it to select their ranges, which we then produce to order, here in Sydney.
We need clear views of the front, back and detail of each garment, along with a video showing how it moves. These images have a practical job: helping a buyer understand what they’re ordering.
Later, we use that photography to show the styles we offer online, which is only around 30% of the full collection.
That’s why its size 10 garments that appear so consistently on our website. It’s the garment available when we photograph the range. It’s there to represent the garment as opposed to the woman who may choose to wear it.
Some brands choose for their ecom shoots, to crop out model faces entirely, as this reduces model fees, hair and make up requirements and can provide more timeless imagery. We choose not to, we like to see a smile, and think you do too! You'll notice we never style in a manner of sultry aesthetic.
Representation still matters
Closer to the season, when production stock is available, we can work with creators of different ages, sizes and backgrounds to show their own ways of wearing Philosophy.
That adds something valuable - another body, another perspective, another way to imagine a garment in your life.
But, it comes with additional costs.
I would love the budget for a full fashion campaign with a broad range of women wearing the collection. As an independent label, we currently need our photography to do several jobs within one budget. Larger retailers with dedicated campaign budgets have more scope to commission that diversity, and I believe they should use it.
Explaining our process doesn’t make the desire for representation any less valid. I understand why a customer wants to know what a pant might look like on a body closer to her own, or to see a woman her age looking fabulous in the clothes she’s considering.
We’ll keep looking for opportunities to show more of that, while valuing the women who have helped us tell Philosophy’s story for years.
Because growing older is something our customers, our models and I are doing together. There’s a place for that shared experience in fashion, and I’m proud it’s part of ours.
Ali x
