Today, we’re heading to the mysterious place that is backstage at the fashion show, where everything comes together – or falls apart – before the spectacle begins. To put it in movie terms, backstage is the film’s climax, where all of the most challenging and exciting things happen before models finally walk out wearing the designer’s latest creations. There’s a reason why shows don’t actually start on time (except for Marc Jacobs ), and that’s because despite the months of preparation that go into producing a fashion show, there are always last-minute things to attend to, from fixing a button or a zipper on a sample, to getting a model running late from another show (that also ran late) into hair and make-up.
Despite this utter chaos, some magical moments come from the frenzy. Take Kevin Tachman, Vogue ’s backstage photographer in the 2010s, who fell into the world of fashion almost by accident and in the process ended up witnessing historical fashion moments, like Zoolander ’s return to the runways at the Valentino autumn/winter 2015 show. Or consider our European photographer, Acielle Tanbetova , who has been present for some of the most significant debuts and goodbyes of the last decade, and has shot in so many of the wonders of the world she could almost call herself a travel photographer.
Most importantly, backstage is about telling a story. For our resident New York photographer Hunter Abrams, it’s about capturing not just first looks (that’s industry speak for when the models are finally dressed in their full runway looks), but also the fittings, the beauty, and the work that goes on in the days leading up to the shows. Our three photographers have shot hundreds of runways during their years at Vogue ; find out which stories have stood the test of time here.
Kevin Tachman The bulk of my experience as a photographer before I started documenting the shows for Vogue consisted of shooting concerts and festivals. When I first got to experience a runway show in person, it was like an episode of Fashion TV come to life. I found myself in a place I never thought I would be.
While I could name every band on MTV and tell you Chumbawamba’s chart positions, I was very green when it came to fashion. I made common mistakes, like mispronouncing Balmain and Lanvin, and even wondered if Christian Dior was alive so I could get a portrait. Yes, that green.
I say this because I was not prepared for the wonderment and complete spectacle of some of my now-favourite shows, and I still smile at the fact that I got to be in the room for some of the most iconic (yes, I know it’s an overused word) shows. Note: Experiencing the shows as a guest versus experiencing the show as a photographer can be two very different things..
. especially when it comes to access. When a brand didn’t want photographers backstage, we were often relegated to covering the action front-of-house, sometimes even less than that.
We were given access just to capture something often referred to as “atmosphere” – not the show itself, not backstage, but trying to make the best of shooting guests, editors milling about, and taking interesting photos of the set before having to leave before the show (no fun, right?) At the Balenciaga spring/summer 2012 show, the most exciting moment happened before the show even began. As guests started to arrive and take their seats, there was a sudden loud BOOM. No one knew what it was.
Then, another loud BOOM. It turned out that the benches the guests were sitting on were collapsing under their weight. People were slow to realise, and if I recall correctly, there was even a third BOOM.
It was then that an announcement came over the loudspeaker asking all the guests to stand due to the danger of remaining seated. It was way too late to find another seating solution for the guests, and everyone was sort of flummoxed and couldn’t believe what was happening. I found humour in the ridiculousness of it all in this refined space right before the show.
And due to the chaos, I couldn’t exit the show before it began, so I shot the show – much to the distress of the PR at the time, who was not happy with Vogue running the photo of the editors standing. While I never asked the question, “Did you ever think that maybe there’s more to life than being really, really..
. really ridiculously good looking?” I had no idea what was in store for the Valentino autumn/winter 2015 show, and neither did anyone else backstage. I was told to arrive backstage very early, and I noticed the usual coterie of photographers was absent – it was just me, my assistant, and the house photographer who had access and permission to shoot backstage.
It was soon revealed that Derek Zoolander and Hansel were making their return to the runway at this very show! Fashion insanity. When I say no one knew what was going on, I mean no one – usually, when there is a special guest or VIP participating in a show, it leaks, and people are aware that something special is going to happen. But this was all business as usual until, in the middle of the first looks, we were urgently escorted into a tiny, secret makeshift holding area to take several photos with Derek, Hansel and Anna Wintour, creating the “See No Evil” image that announced the bad boys of the runway were back (and achieving the fastest transmission of a photo to the photo desk I’d ever done – all before the convenience of Wi-Fi everywhere).
After the pressure of getting “the shot,” I was backstage as they revealed themselves just as the finale was about to start, and took their place to go onto the runway. I felt terrible for the model who was about to exit for the finale who was yanked back because they were about to do their walk, but there were definitely some smiles all around. For Marc Jacobs’s autumn/winter 2013 show, he collaborated with the artist Olafur Eliasson to create a lighting effect that I have not seen since.
It allowed your naked eye, once adjusted to the giant sun, to perceive things in black and white. It was as if you were in the movie Pleasantville or The Wizard of Oz before everything turned into colour. While this was an amazing trick of lighting and illusion, it gave me a giant headache as I had been there several hours before to capture backstage beauty etc, and my eyes were constantly adjusting and trying to override what I was seeing.
When it came time for the show, the PR team asked me to shoot from the photo pit, which was so packed with photographers that I almost had a panic attack. After some deliberation and controlled breathing I found an excuse to escape, I shot the front row and at the last second found a great spot on the steps next to the photo pit to capture the show. The Chanel autumn/winter 2017 show, where they “launched” a giant rocket inside the Grand Palais, and Rick Owens’s trio of shows where the elements fire for autumn/winter 2012, wind for autumn/winter 2013, and bubbles/water for spring/summer 2013 were backdrops to the collections.
Acielle Tanbetova The pandemic was probably the craziest period. Daily testing became routine to access shows, but it also opened doors to unique locations for digital presentations – Dior at the majestic Versailles, Balmain at the airport, or Kim Jones’s Fendi debut glass maze couture show. Another truly unforgettable experience was capturing first looks for the Dior Men’s show in Egypt, with the awe-inspiring pyramids as a backdrop.
Chanel’s Cruise and Métiers d’Art shows are always exciting, whether it’s the glamour of Monaco or the energy of Dakar. Of course, I can’t forget shooting during Balenciaga’s autumn/winter 2022 indoor snowstorm, or getting to capture Emma Corrin when they closed the Miu Miu autumn/winter 2023 show. Jacquemus always puts on great shows outside of fashion week in incredible places like the salt flats in Camargue, the famous Versailles gardens, and most recently, the beautiful Casa Malaparte in Capri.
Some shows hold a deeper significance. Capturing Virgil Abloh’s final collection for Off-White, and witnessing Pharrell’s debut at Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten’s final bow, were all historic moments in fashion. And then, there are the supermodels.
Shooting with legends, like Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Shalom Harlow at Vogue World, Versace or Schiaparelli is a photographer’s dream. Hunter Abrams I’ve been given many assignments that are just that, assignments; but I’ve also been given quite a few that I can only describe as gifts. Tomo Koizumi’s NYFW debut is the stuff of legend.
Having discovered him via Giles Deacon, Katie Grand slid into Tomo’s DMs, proposed a show during NYFW, and in true Cinderella fashion arranged a team of stars to facilitate it all. (Grand styled the show herself, with make-up by Pat McGrath, hair by Guido Palau, nails by Jin Soon and casting by Anita Bitton. As if that wasn’t enough, Tabitha Simmons lent her shoes for the show and Marc Jacobs let them hold it in his uptown store.
) I was asked to shoot the show for Vogue.com, except it wasn’t just the show, but how the whole thing came together, including fittings and a hair test. Getting the chance to watch Tomo, Katie, Guido and some of the top models and actresses in the biz prep for what we all knew was gonna be an iconic fashion moment was extremely life-affirming.
Getting to photograph it was just the icing on the cake! By the time the show ended with Gwendoline Christie in a towering cape of rainbow ruffles, I had become just as much a part of the team as anyone else, so much so that a few days later Katie emailed me to invite me back to shoot the prep for Marc’s show, but that’s a story for another time..
