Before instantaneous access to fashion shows via livestreaming and social media, London-based artist Robert Fairer was backstage photographing the designers, models, hair and makeup artists, stylists, and others working in crowded spaces at a frenetic pace moments before the final looks were presented. His intuitive ability to frame the beauty, drama, and energy backstage resulted in stunning images — found in the pages of British Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and eventually American Vogue — that celebrate the creative talents who contribute to the magic of the runway.

Backstage Pass: Dior, Galliano, Jacobs, and McQueen captures the zeitgeist of the turn of the 21st-century, an era of artistic zenith in runway show production by the house of Dior, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander McQueen. The exhibition draws from Fairer’s prolific body of work that includes hundreds of thousands of images, and was curated in close collaboration with the artist and his wife, Vanessa. In recent years, they have worked to edit and preserve his expansive archive of photographs, a process that led to the acclaimed Thames & Hudson Unseen book series of previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs. Although Fairer’s extraordinary work can be found in magazines and books, it has not previously been mounted in an exhibition. Backstage Pass, the artist’s first museum show, is a time capsule of work (1998–2010) by one of the most renowned fashion photographers of our time, featuring many never-before-seen images. It presents candid shots of supermodels Mariacarla Boscono, Gisele Bundchen, Naomi Campbell, Karen Elson, Shalom Harlow, Chanel Iman, Kate Moss, and Alek Wek being made runway-ready by legendary makeup designers Pat McGrath and Val Garland, hair stylists Julien D’Ys and Orlando Pita, and famed milliners Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy. Designed as both a visual and aural experience, the exhibition re-creates the glamour and spirit of backstage.

Fairer had the foresight to go behind the curtain at a time when backstage photography was in its infancy, and introduced a new, exclusive perspective on the way runway shows were seen. Vogue recognized his talent and for more than a decade he covered womenswear collections off-stage for the magazine. The advent of social media brought an end to the rarefied world of backstage photography. As the luxury industry and fashion designers saw the potential for more exposure, backstage evolved from exclusive to public. Today publicists, bloggers, and influencers post images in real time or livestream from behind the runway. Yet, Fairer’s artistic approach and genuine feeling for fashion produced a body of work that has stood the test of time. His intimate portraits of supermodels, designers, and creatives are a captivating record of a bygone era. Backstage Pass delves into the recent past and considers how those years set us on the path to now.

About the artist

Robert Fairer is a London-based fashion photographer. After finishing university in the early 1990s, he began shooting runway collections in London and Paris, documenting the work of designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander “Lee” McQueen, and John Galliano. In the early 2000s, Fairer was commissioned by American Vogue to cover the international fashion scene. For more than a decade, he collaborated with editors Sally Singer, Hamish Bowles, André Leon Talley, Sarah Mower, and editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to capture defining moments in fashion history. His photographs have been published by Thames & Hudson in a series of monographs: Alexander McQueen: Unseen (2016); John Galliano: Unseen (2017); Marc Jacobs: Unseen (2018); John Galliano for Dior: Unseen (2019); and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel: Unseen (forthcoming).

Backstage Pass: Dior, Galliano, Jacobs, and McQueen is curated by director of fashion exhibitions, Rafael Gomes, exclusively for SCAD FASH. The exhibition is presented in association with Atlanta Celebrates Photography.