Listen up, fashion fans: One writer has had about enough of our subpar iPhone photography. Mark C. O’Flaherty writes on The Business of Fashion today that all those blurry runway photos and weirdly tilted Twitpics we can't wait to post may actually be seriously harming fashion. Such power we hold in our hands.
Calling the proliferation of smartphone snaps the "blown out, blurred flipside of fashion’s digital revolution," O’Flaherty makes some cogent (and hilarious) points about why we all scramble to post even the crummiest fashion photos to our Instagrams. Such as, ahem, this writer's pic from the Karen Walker show above — not exactly Irving Penn-worthy, we admit.
According to O’Flaherty, our digital snaps are basically braggy, electronic postcards proclaiming, "Look, y'all, I'm somewheres fancy!" Anyone who's suffered through the feed of a showgoer who insists on posting the invite, the line outside, and their seat number can attest to that. And, O’Flaherty asserts that we actually diminish designers' hard work with our hasty snaps. You wouldn't serve a $50 steak on a Dixie plate, so why photograph Dries with a Droid? ...Or, we suppose the logic goes.
Most interestingly, O’Flaherty insists that our urgency to publish our postcards is due not only to fashion's maniacal encouragement of all things #socialmedia — it's also because a lot of showgoers are deeply bored by fashion. And, it's true that for all the bloggers, socialites, and other assorted guests who don't need to really evaluate the collection, a phone snap may be a way to engage with the experience and, well, have something to do among all the actual journalists jotting in their notebooks.
Click over to BoF to see O’Flaherty's full piece — it's definitely worth the read. And, let us know in the comments: Will you continue to debase fashion with subpar snaps? Full disclosure: We probably will. In the meantime, Apple better get some faster lenses on these iPhones, and quick — the fate of luxury houses worldwide may depend on it. (The Business of Fashion)