La Parisienne According To Madame d'Ora

As L’officiel approaches its centennial anniversary this fall, we celebrate the most influential names from the history of the magazine, and the world of fashion itself. We begin with this groundbreaking photographer, who brought an uncompromising female gaze to a male-dominated field

- Piper McDonald & Tori Nergaard

Though considered a visual medium to contemporary eyes, the fashion magazine was not always inextricably linked with photography. The early days of L’Officiel were marked mostly by words, as flowery prose described collections alongside technical fashion illustrations, and lengthy sentences full of legal jargon debated industry news and events. It would take several years into the first century of L’Officiel for the publication to develop a visual language of its own: a development that is partially thanks to Dora Kallmus - better known as Madame d’Ora.

Much in the way that the fashion magazine began as something technical, so did the medium of fashion photography itself. The early photograph was stiff, sober; it was originally meant to capture the mere likeness of its subject, with little in the way of creative expression. However, as the artistic scene flourished in the early 1900s, cultured creators like d’Ora brought about new approaches to the practice that invited aesthetics to the magazine page. While fashion drawings served their purpose for an industry-focused publication, the iconic female photo director would help transform L’Officiel into a visual magazine for a mass audience thirsty for the fantasy of couture.