FASHION Faux Parr is the only book that attempts to unravel British photojournalist/photographer Martin Parr’s highly original perspective on fashion through his private work and commissions. It is the only collection of Parr’s work that attempts to unravel his highly original view of “fashion” from his private and commissioned work – campaign photos for major fashion houses and some of his editorials published in international fashion magazines such as “Vogue”. For this exhibition, Parr has selected 16 works from the book to comprise the exhibition space.

Parr’s consistent theme in this body of work is “fashion,” but what exactly is fashion?

How did he define the word, which even those of us who have been involved in apparel manufacturing and sales for over 40 years and have made “fashion” our profession find it endless and cloud-hogging? How did he define it?

[© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos]

The following quote is from the preface to the 2005 edition of Fashion Magazine, published by Magnum and edited by Martin Parr.

Our exhibition of Parr’s work, with these ideas in mind, is our participation in his (ironic) expression, our question to fashion.

“Some of the shoots feature models, some are people who were cast in the street, sometimes you cannot tell the difference. Some shoots resemble documentary, some look more like fashion, they can even look like art. What is exciting is that it is difficult to tell the difference.The traditional boundaries of these worlds are slipping away and I am enjoying exploring these new fusions.”

We hope that this exhibition will provide an opportunity to reconsider the concept of “fashion” through a total of 16 works selected by Parr himself as well as by the gallery.

[Fashion Faux Parr. Martin Parr. With essays by Patrick Grant and Tabitha Simmons. Phaidon]