The Impossible Image

Over the past decade, the increasing use of technology and image manipulation within the fashion industry has led to an increase in the fantastical image, as much a product of the machine as it is a result of the imaginative faculties of its creators. From fashion shoots that display clothes adorned on invisible models, to painterly reinterpretations of the traditional fashion tableau, the fine line between reality and fantasy is becoming increasingly blurred.
The Impossible Image is a compilation of the best examples of this digital marriage. Selected from leading style titles based in New York, London and Paris and art directed by Robin Derrick, Art Director of British Vogue, The Impossible Image highlights the most innovative and thought-provoking use of digital technology and its implementation within the modern fashion shoot. Including work by Nick Knight, Norbert Schoerner, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Vincent Peters, Phil Poynter, Solve Sundsbo, Andrea Giacobbe, Stephane Sednaoul, Rankin, Mike Thomas, Lee Jenkins, Matt Alas and Marcus Piggott.
The cover sequence, 'For Erin, Gisele, Karen, Maggie, Kate and Alec', photographed exclusively for the book by Nick Knight, features hidden profiles of six supermodels, each within a bouquet of flowers. It was digitally enhanced by Allan Finamore and Vim Jethwa of Core Ltd, London, with additional post-production by Howard Wakefield and Paul Hetherington, London.

This is a collection of the most interesting of contemporary fashion photographers' work, utilising the modern digital retouching to create "impossible images. It includes existing work and up to a third newly commissioned work by photographers as Nick Knight, Solve Sundsbo, Phil Poynter, Norbert Schoerner, Mario Testino, David Lachapelle, Inez van Lamsweerde, Guido Mocafico and Steven Meisel. Fashion today is as much about image as it is about ideas, indeed the two concepts are synonymous with our perceived notions of style. Yet over the past decade, the increasing use of technology and image manipulation within the fashion industry have led to an increase in the fantastical image, as much a product of the machine as it is the result of the imaginative faculties of its creators. From fashion shoots that display clothes adorned on invisible models, to painterly reinterpretations of the traditional fashion tableaux, the fine line between reality and fantasy is becoming increasingly blurred. The book concentrates on the most innovative and thought-provoking use of new technology and its implementation within the modern fashion shoot.