New
Fashion Photo Book by Photographer Sharon Socol,
Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic
Journey Into the World of Fashion,
reveals
intimate moments, fashion world luminaries
Black-and-white images document the New
York and Paris fashion world 2001-2010
January
2013 – For more than a decade, photographer Sharon Socol accompanied her
husband, retail visionary Howard Socol, then CEO of Barneys New York, to many
of the fashion world’s most high-profile runway shows and VIP parties. An
accomplished photographer of more than 30 years, she was never without her
trusted Leica, capturing images everywhere she went, from backstage to front
row. The result was Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic Journey Into the World
of Fashion (Books & Books Press, Spring2013, 120 pp., hard cover).
Socol’s debut photographic compilation,
Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic
Journey Into the World of Fashion, features 100 candid images from seminal
moments at famed fashion shows and parties in New York and Paris between 2001
and 2010. The book’s title and theme reflect Socol’s status as a self-proclaimed
‘plus one’ for husband Howard Socol. Using her unique everyman
perspective, Socol was able to capture stunningly intimate moments not only of
industry icons including supermodels and designers including Diane von Furstenberg, Alber Elbaz, Narciso
Rodriguez, Zac Posen, Tommy Hilfiger and Giorgio Armani, but also of those who toiled behind the curtain –
the dressmakers, dressers, choreographers, makeup and hair artists, bouncers
and waiters who provided the backbone for those glamorous, fleeting moments.
“My camera captured lives
within lives,” Socol writes in the book’s forward. “To think that people can
choose to control how they look, how they feel, and who they are on any given
day is extremely powerful. That is something I would never have understood had
I not exposed my film.”
Alber Elbaz, Creative Director of Lanvin, said of Socol: “She
photographed real people at real moments. She did not photograph ‘fashion.’
This is what I love about Sharon and her work. In our world of dreams and fantasy,
Sharon captures the moment of truth.”
The next book signing and book party will take place on February 19th at barneys New York. The event is private and will be hosted by Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez and Simon Doonan.
Sharon Socol’s book captures human moments in haute-couture world
For 8 years, photographer Sharon Socol had a backstage pass to top fashion shows in New York, Paris and Milan
BY LYDIA MARTIN
LYDIA@LYDIAMARTIN.COM
Sharon Socol’s husband, Howard, spent 28 years working for Florida’s Burdines department stores, rising through the ranks to serve as chairman and CEO from 1984 to 1997. Then he did a stint as CEO of J. Crew. But none of this prepared Sharon for what happened when he took the helm of the decidedly more glam, more high-stakes Barneys New York in 2001.
Sharon Socol Photo by C.W. Griffin |
All of a sudden, Sharon — who never had much use for haute couture — was hanging with Anna Wintour, Vogue’s legendary editor-in-chief. She was sitting at dinner parties across from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. She was scoring VIP access to the top fashion shows in New York, Paris, Milan. She was watching Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane Von Furstenberg, Alexander McQueen, Narciso Rodriguez and the rest getting their work on behind the scenes.
Click here for rest of Lydia Martin's Lunch With Lydia: Sharon Socol.