Lee Miller was a Vogue cover girl, Man Ray's lover, the first photojournalist at the liberation of Dachau and Buchenwald, and one of the most important female photographers of the 20th century. Combining fine art and urban wit, her photographic technique was learned from the great photographers of her day, among them Edward Steichen, Man Ray and George Hoyningen-Huene. Becky E. Conekin's Lee Miller in Fashion gives us a wide lens view on Miller's fashion photography. Set against the fast-changing landscapes of New York, Paris, and London, it reveals a neglected chapter in Miller's life: how this incredible woman challenged conventions and broke boundaries in her fashion photography for the leading magazines of the day. Using never-before-seen photographs and archival research, Conekin shows how Miller's fashion photographs were a brilliant combination of sharp wit, high art and modernist edge.
Preface • 1. 'That intangible quality of chic': Early Life & Modeling, 1907-29 • 2. 'With strong-willed girls you let them do it': A Parisian Apprenticeship, 1929-32 • 3. 'I'd rather take a picture than be one': New York and Egypt, 1932-39 • 4. 'Here and now resolve to shop courageously to look your best': Fashion Photography in London, 1939-44 • 5. 'Who else can swing from the Siegfried Line to the new hipline?': War and Fashion Reportage, 1944-46 • 6. 'But in peace time Vogue was primarily a fashion magazine': Disenchantment and Departure from Fashion, 1946-77 • Afterword
