Horst in colour

Horst was quick to master the new colour processes introduced in the late 1930s, and he created hundreds of vibrant fashion photographs for Vogue magazine. Watch how we created new colour prints from Horst's original transparencies, for the exhibition 'Horst: Photographer of Style'.

Very few vintage colour prints by Horst exist because at the time, colour capture took place on a transparency, which could be reproduced on the magazine page without the need to create a photographic print.

This film reveals the process of creating new colour prints for the exhibition 'Horst: Photographer of Style' that took place at the V&A from 6 September 2014 – 5 January 2015, and includes insights into Horst's dynamic approach from model Carmen Dell'Orefice and Vogue's International Editor at Large, Hamish Bowles.

The V&A team worked closely with specialists at the Condé Nast Archive and expert printer Ken Allen to select and print from Horst's early transparencies, dating from the 1930s to the 1950s. The size of the new prints displayed in the exhibition echoes the large scale of a group of Horst images printed in 1938 at the Condé Nast press.

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