When a Fashion Week Image Goes Viral
The power of women's pain and social media
Welcome to In the Flash, a reader-supported publication about intent and creativity in photography
Last week, one of my photos went viral. National Geographic published an image from New York Fashion Week on their Instagram, triggering a social media tsunami. Over the next couple of days, influencers, celebrities and models, including Emily Ratakowski, reposted it, and I got flooded with thousands of comments, DMs, emails, and 35K new Instagram followers.
The photo was taken backstage at a Jason Wu show while on assignment for T Magazine, but it was never published. T Magazine chose a different outtake, showing a more ameliorated view of backstage shenanigans. It was not surprising that a publication dedicated to style wouldn’t want to disturb its reader base or antagonize the fashion industry. I have photographed Fashion week for different publications since 2012, and I learned that most are looking to celebrate rather than criticize. As a result, the hectic environment of the backstage gets reduced to an airbrushed version of itself. Many of the images that wouldn’t make the official cut ended up in my personal, long-term project, Fashion Lust.
Most of the responses I received sympathized with the model, but some came to the defense of the fashion industry, claiming the image was either a fake or an isolated incident that distorted the reality of the backstage. Both of those insinuations are codswallop. I have spent over 12 seasons of Fashion week photographing this shot over and over again, until finally, the yellow satin shoes fitted on battered feet became the final reiteration of a prolonged quest.