A groundbreaking exhibition featuring nine emerging photographers from Central Saint Martins is redefining the boundaries of contemporary fashion photography. "Rethinking Fashion Image," curated by Violet Conroy and currently on display at Lower Stable Street Lightboxes in London's Kings Cross, showcases work that deliberately resists today's fast-paced, attention-grabbing visual culture.
The exhibition brings together students and alumni from the prestigious art school, including Kaine Harrys Anamalu, Coco Wu, Carina Kehlet Schou, Xueling Chen, Rino Qiu, Camille Lemoine, Maya-Aska Arai, Olivia Chen and Kaiwei Duan, and Lorane Hochstatter. Each photographer offers a fresh perspective on current cultural moments through their distinctive visual storytelling approaches.
"Modern beauty standards are almost single-handedly shaped by fashion and beauty imagery, which is an inescapable part of life today," explains Conroy, who also serves as deputy editor of AnOthermag.com. "Fashion images are there on the cover of magazines, in shops, on billboards, on buses, taxis, on your phone, popping up on websites. They are an ever-changing barometer of what we desire as a culture, and if they're really excellent, they tell us what we want before we even realize we want it."
The photographers featured in the exhibition explore diverse themes that reflect contemporary social consciousness. Their work examines humanity's connection to nature, diasporic identity and community building, evolving relationships, changing concepts of femininity, and the beauty found in everyday life. These projects span the globe, with images captured from Scotland to Shanghai, London to Milan, and numerous locations in between.
This international scope reflects broader cultural shifts toward diversity, inclusivity, and sustainability in fashion imagery. Many of the featured photographers deliberately choose street-cast models who fall outside conventional fashion industry standards, embracing authenticity over traditional commercial appeal. "People are opting for real people, as opposed to the high fashion runway models of the past," Conroy notes.
The exhibition directly challenges the rapid consumption cycle that dominates contemporary fashion photography. Social media's influence has fundamentally changed how fashion images are created and consumed, demanding content that is "bold, quick, snappy, attention grabbing and easily digestible," according to Conroy. However, the photographers in "Rethinking Fashion Image" deliberately push against these constraints.
Photographers like Anamalu and Lemoine are expanding the possibilities beyond what Conroy describes as the fashion industry's "sometimes encumbered imagination." Their work prioritizes artistic vision and personal storytelling over immediate commercial impact. "I feel that all the photographers in the show are working against the disposable demands of fashion imagery today, instead building rich and highly personal visual worlds," Conroy explains.
The exhibition's strength lies in its timeless quality, with much of the work feeling difficult to categorize within specific trends or periods. This approach represents a significant departure from fashion photography's typical emphasis on capturing and defining particular moments in time. Instead, these young image-makers are creating work that transcends immediate commercial pressures.
Conroy emphasizes that the best fashion photography serves as "a prism through which our desires as a culture are both articulated and anticipated." The photographers in this exhibition are not just documenting current fashion trends but actively shaping future conversations about beauty, identity, and visual culture.
"Rethinking Fashion Image" will remain on display at Lower Stable Street Lightboxes in Kings Cross, London, until January 5, 2026. The exhibition represents a significant moment for emerging photographers who are reshaping how fashion imagery can function as both commercial art and cultural commentary.
