Marie Claire France exhibition celebrates fashion seen through the female gaze

Marie Claire France is showcasing the work of six women photographers in collaboration with Paris City Hall (Hotel de Ville), during Paris Fashion Week. “Aux Yeux des Femmes” (“Through Women’s Eyes”) features the images of Sarah Moon, Betina du Toit, Françoise Huguier, Sacha van Dorssen, Marianne Chemetov, and Elina Kechicheva, who all worked with Marie Claire. The exhibition is part of the “Paris aime la Mode” program organized by the city of Paris. It features photographs all the way from the late 70’s to 2018 and is opened to the public from Sept 26th to Oct. 6th.

The Marie Claire retrospective photography exhibition shows the evolution of the image of fashion and of women in our society, from the t-shirts and mini skirts of the 70s to the conquering shoulders during the 80’s, the minimalism of the 90’s, logo bags, ultra-consumption of the 2000s until present day.

“Each of the models I worked with was a side of the woman I wanted to portray — a woman who manages to break free from convention,” Moon said. Françoise Huguier, known for her photojournalism, remembers one of her fashion shoots for Marie Claire for which she traveled to Kolkata, India. “I chose to frame the narrative like a ‘roman photo,’” she said, in reference to the European tradition of photo-novels. Her photo “Le retour de l’enterrement” (“Coming Back From the Funeral”) is one of the striking images featured in the exhibition. “ The woman is presented as equal to man. She cultivates a taste for provocation, wearing a yellow sweater,” she said. Olivier Gabet, museums director at Les Arts Décoratifs and curator of “Aux Yeux des Femmes,” said the exhibition casts a new light on the fashion publication’s history, underlining the fact that its fashion stories celebrate a “serene, sensual and benevolent” representation of women.