The most honest picture ever taken of Marilyn Monroe' has been sold for £77,500 at Sotheby's .

The most honest picture ever taken of Marilyn Monroe'

One of fashion’s most powerful tools is it ability to transform our perspective in a matter of moments. Open a fashion magazine hating pie-crust blouses, put it down with the overwhelming urge to drop everything and hunt one down like your life depends upon it.

There’s probably no better medium for challenging our perceptions of what looks good than fashion photography. A fact recognized by Sotheby’s who are auctioning off a selection of era-defining images today - including a shot of supermodels rejected by Anna Wintour, a portrait considered 'the most honest photograph ever taken of Marilyn Monroe' and more recent shots such as Miles Aldridge’s sumptuously colorful photographs. 

It’s a beautiful image but American Vogue, who had commissioned the shoot, ended up not using it because the editor Anna Wintour thought it was too controversially casual.  “They look so at ease and so themselves,” says Brandei Estes, Head of photographs at Sotheby’s London, of the models shot. "But in 1990 that was considered too avant-garde, they said it couldn’t be used.”

Let's see some more glamorous & beautiful images 

 

Irving Penn's lipstick image is expected to fetch £230,000 CREDIT:SOTHEBY'S

While his portrait is one of the most honest ever taken of Marilyn, it's beauty wasn't immediately acknowledged. “It was really only in the 1980s that the market took off and the value of their work was truly realised,” says Estes.

Gathering the photographs together took effort

So how do you get all these iconic fashion images together in one auction?  “It’s involved a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” laughs Estes, who says that it’s mostly because the market is so strong that her contacts have been persuaded to sell. “I’ve known many collectors who would turn their nose up at fashion photography but that’s changing, you can really see the historical value now,” she says of the market which has taken off in the past ten years. “I mean in the 80s, no one would ever have heard of these image makers, but Mario Testino is a household name now.”

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