{"id":119308,"date":"2025-09-04T12:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119308\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:44:09","slug":"why-your-home-could-be-the-backdrop-of-a-magazine-shoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119308\/","title":{"rendered":"Why your home could be the backdrop of a magazine shoot"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Throughout the 20th century, fashion shoots took place almost exclusively in an indoor photography studio, or in a public space like a bustling city street. But nowadays, you are just as likely to see a campaign or magazine shoot staged in someone\u2019s bedroom, lounge or kitchen, alongside their personal possessions. The shift is the focus of a new book, \u201cThe Domestic Stage: When Fashion Image Comes Home,\u201d which explores photographers\u2019 fascination with the home and why brands prefer the intimate setting.\n <\/p>\n

\n When the pandemic struck in 2020, the book\u2019s author Adam Murray \u2014 a writer, curator and pathway leader for the MA Fashion Image course at London\u2019s art and design college Central Saint Martins \u2014 observed how young photographers and image makers were forced to adapt during lockdowns. Many began shooting at home because it was the only location available to them. \u201cI was impressed by how resiliently they worked and how creative they were within the restrictions,\u201d he said in an interview with CNN.\n <\/p>\n

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\n Emerging photographers weren\u2019t the only ones who had to adapt during this period. Fashion brands including Zara, Martine Rose<\/a>, Jacquemus and Gucci, as well as publications such as i-D and Vogue Italia, asked models to shoot themselves at home for campaigns, magazine editorials, and even virtual runway shows. For Murray, it marked a \u201cturning point\u201d for fashion photography. Images could now be captured or created outside of a professional studio and still be seen as \u201cequally valid,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n While lockdowns and other social distancing measures have since lifted, intimate, private settings remain a popular choice of location for fashion photographers, said Murray. The change, he believes, coincides with a shift in fashion marketing from unattainable glamour to focusing on relatability and authenticity through everyday moments and normalizing flaws. The rise of reality TV shows such as \u201cKeeping Up with the Kardashians,\u201d which offers a seemingly unvarnished glimpse into the privileged lives and interpersonal relationships of the wealthy family, has also contributed to a desire, particularly among young people, for \u201creal\u201d and genuine images over ones that feel overly curated.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think there is this urge from audiences for a world beyond the super constructed artifice that we usually associate with fashion,\u201d said Murray.\n <\/p>\n

\n Most of the houses featured in \u201cThe Domestic Stage\u201d belong to the people being photographed \u2014 typically street-cast models or the photographer\u2019s own family and friends \u2014 or were rented holiday homes. However, it means doing away with a lot of the commotion that accompanies a typical shoot, simply because most domestic spaces can\u2019t accommodate it. Gone are the armies of assistants and trucks filled with clothing, or the crowds of onlookers hoping to catch a glimpse of a top model. In their place is a more curated selection of outfits and one or two crew members on set. In this sense, homes offer a more private and personal environment, which can be comfortable and creatively stimulating.\n <\/p>\n

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\n That\u2019s not to say that domestic spaces are predictable. The book features stories of photographers working with mischievous children, incorporating surprise visitors into pictures, and resorting to flashlights due to power cuts. The unexpected environments lend the images some realism; in the book, the London-based photographer Joyce Ng describes her experience on a shoot for the fashion publication 1 Granary, which involved navigating a household of six children, as \u201cthe epitome of beautiful chaos\u201d. Other photographers featured said they drew inspiration from people\u2019s living spaces, preferring to leave them untouched and treating them as an extension of the person they are photographing.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even though a lot of the work is as constructed as something would be in the studio, it\u2019s got a bit more of a sense of reality to it.\n <\/p>\n

\n Adam Murray, author of “The Domestic Stage: When Fashion Image Comes Home”\n <\/p>\n

\n Though, some projects still require intense preparation, particularly when large brands are involved. For example, Dior\u2019s Fall-Winter 2024 campaign shot by Sarah Jones involved working with a set designer to visualize and dress the rooms of an abandoned French chateau, resulting in highly manicured scenes. That same year, the Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta produced a campaign reinterpreting Carrie Mae Weems\u2019s influential photography projects \u201cKitchen Table Series\u201d (1990) and \u201cFamily Pictures and Stories\u201d (1981-1982), this time starring A$AP Rocky and his children and using carefully planned props and set design.\n <\/p>\n

\"Kathy,<\/p>\n

\n The Bottega Veneta campaign was striking not only because of the iconicity of Weems\u2019s original series but also because of the air of familiarity it created around both A$AP Rocky and, by extension, the brand. At a time where authenticity is touted by marketers as a way for brands to engage deeply with audiences, domestic spaces, with their \u201cintimacy and imperfections,\u201d are especially desirable, Murray explained. \u201cEven though a lot of the work is as constructed as something would be in the studio, it\u2019s got a bit more of a sense of reality to it,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some photographers flip this assumed authenticity on its head by reverse-engineering studios and sets to resemble homes.\n <\/p>\n

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\n The London-based photographer and filmmaker Rachel Fleminger Hudson designs the sets in her editorials to look like kitchens, bedrooms and lounges \u2014 albeit with an intentionally synthetic feel, akin to the setting of a stage play rather than a real home, to highlight how people construct and perform their everyday lives. Elsewhere, magazine spreads published by Vogue Hommes International show how domestic spaces have an element of artificiality, as seen in the photographer Nigel Shafran\u2019s images of soccer stars in their barely lived-in temporary homes, or visual artist Sarah Jones\u2019s uncanny series picturing show apartments. \u201cShe\u2019s very interested in this idea of how these spaces create aspirations,\u201d Murray said of Jones\u2019s work, noting it explores personal ideals when it comes to the kinds of homes one might desire and seek to build.\n <\/p>\n

\n As boundaries between the public and private continue to dissolve in the always-on era of social media, shooting in people\u2019s homes has come far from being a quirk of the pandemic era and domestic spaces are set to remain a common feature in fashion imagery. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t just a couple of years where everyone was doing it \u2014 this is an ongoing thing,\u201d Murray said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Domestic Stage,\u201d published by Thames & Hudson, is available in the UK now and the US on October 7.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link London \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Throughout the 20th century, fashion shoots took place almost exclusively in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-119308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}