David Sims Unites Color and Form

Yet another post on fashion photography (sorry to those who don’t enjoy looking at it as much as I do). I’ve always been a fan of the Benetton ads. There’s just something about the clean images with the bold colors that grabs your attention. After seeing one of their ads in a magazine, I was curious to find out who the photographer was: David Sims.

“David Sims began working as a photographer in 1989 after a number of years assisting. His first editorial stories appeared in The Face and I-D and his defiantly casual ‘grunge’ style soon became recognized. It was at this time that he shot what was to become a very influential campaign in his career for Yohji Yamamoto. This lead to the signing of a one year exclusive contract with Harper’s Bazaar (USA) in 1993 and the commissioning of his first campaign for Calvin Klein.”

~ ArtPartner.com

The above ad was one without a photographer name, so I did my best in comparing the photographic style and composition to the other Benetton campaign photographs by Sims, and I assume that Sims was the photographer (if I’m wrong please let me know).

Looking at his other images, however, Benetton’s new campaign resembles their 2006 winter campaign (observable below) which I thought was kind of interesting. Both ads were photographed by Sims, but the newest ad displays a fresher, edgier color combination with more movement, for an all together less serious campaign than in 2006.

Going beyond the Benetton ads, Sims still demonstrates a photographic interest in movement and texture, with a focus on capturing the clothing, with the silhouettes and the sculptural forms that the garment creates in relation to the body.

Below, more of David Sims’ 2006 photographs, but for Paris Vogue and Vogue Italia of model Alexandra Tomlinson (via http://models.com/oftheminute/?p=1314).

Images from:

http://www.artpartner.com/

http://www.benetton.com/portal/web/guest/ai2008/woman/fashion#gallery_top

http://www.benettongroup.com/40years-press/index.html

http://avantgarde.blogsome.com/2006/09/29/david-sims-hollywood-parade/