The Wonders of Stephen Shore and Vintage Armani

Stephen Shore's Vintage Armani editorial for Amica - a well known Italian fashion magazine is one series of Shore's works that caught my eye. Unlike most of his somewhat deadpan pieces from the 70's of pancakes and armchairs this piece stood out to me visually with his use of long vertical lines and soft colours which create a careful balance between model and the setting. This shot from the editorial has more of a connection between model and location than some of the others in the series as she almost looks like she is part of the background. the link between the model, chimney and lamp post which struck me as odd at first but now I can see that it gives the image more depth on many levels. The distance between Shore and the model makes her stand out less, making her blend more with her setting. It is unfortunate however that we cannot see more of the beautiful lace detailing in the dress which helps to give this piece an air of elegance, including the tiny fluffy dog casually walking across the road.

In this image you can see the same relationship between the model and location as before, by the way that Shore has placed the model at the same angle as the wall as if to finish off the line it creates. The wall and stairs give this image a good range of depth of field like in the first image but she looks less elegant and shorter, she has a somewhat diminished look to her in the casual side of vintage Armani. This image feels less warm with more blues and greens to cool the image but as I am already over the word limit I struggle to find why that is important. Overall, although this series is more recent you can instantly guess at it being by Shore, which is something I couldn't do last year!