4 Tips on Collecting Fashion Photography, according to Nicola Erni Collection CEO Stefan Puttaert

Since its origins in the late 1990s, the investor Nicola Erni has constructed a person of the world’s most notable collections of fashion images. Populated by legendary seems from just about every ten years commencing with the 1930s, the assortment capabilities noteworthy functions from the likes of Richard Avedon, Paolo Roversi, and additional.

“Fashion and photography have normally been a enthusiasm to Nicola,” explained Stefan Puttaert, CEO of the Erni Assortment. Erni’s selection started off from a collection of images from the 1960s and 1970s that mirrored a time of cultural change in the worlds of artwork, filmmaking, trend, and tunes.

The collection carries on to mature these days, and in 2013, Erni opened a non-public museum in Steinhausen, Switzerland, to dwelling the functions. The assortment showcases a record of manner photography as a medium, but also reflects Erni’s personalized design and style. “Not only did she love flipping through fashion journals in her teenage a long time, she began to style her very first garments,” Puttaert added.

So, what assistance does he have for aspiring collectors of vogue pictures? Artsy spoke to Puttaert for his major suggestions.

A golden rule of accumulating any medium stays genuine for manner photography: Follow your personal eye and intuition. “Nicola Erni acquires will work according to what speaks to her coronary heart and offers her goosebumps,” Puttaert advised Artsy. “Collect according to what speaks to your coronary heart and maintain your eyes large open up, go with the flow.”

Erni, for occasion, is particularly interested in how fashion images is a product or service of each artwork and commerciality—representing a collaboration of crucial figures, Puttaert stated, from designers and types to make-up artists and hairstylists, to established designers and, of class, photographers. It’s a approach that Erni finds interesting.

Just after much more than two decades of gathering style images, Erni’s enthusiasm for the medium continues to be undimmed. She is always on the lookout for up-and-coming names to incorporate to her selection and discovers them all over the place from publications to museums.

For instance, Erni discovered the get the job done of Australian photographer Emma Summerton in Vogue a handful of decades ago. They grew to become very good buddies, and Erni ordered several of her works. A single of the major strengths of the Erni Collection is that it’s continuously on the lookout towards the potential. In addition to heavyweight names like Irving Penn and Mario Testino, it also functions more recent artists which includes Summerton, Hassan Hajjaj, Erik Madigan Heck, Nadine Ijewere, Tyler Mitchell, and Harley Weir.

Puttaert mentioned that some museums have finished exceptionally great perform sharing trend images in the previous quite a few a long time as nicely, highlighting “Icons of Model: A Century of Manner Photography” at the Getty in 2018 “Vogue Paris 1920–2020” at Palais Galliera in Paris in 2021 and monographic exhibitions such as “Steven Meisel 1993 A Year in Photographs” in A Coruña, Spain, suitable now.

Fashion heritage exhibitions can also be a terrific resource of inspiration, way too. “Shocking! The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli” at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and La Galerie Dior, which covers Dior’s record, are other latest noteworthy illustrations, Puttaert claimed.

When a do the job speaks to Erni, she finds it satisfying to gain insight from artists about their inspiration, philosophy, elements, and system, said Puttaert. He advises other collectors to do the exact same.

“When achievable, it is important to her to fulfill the photographers and find their artwork in advance of buying operates by them,” Puttaert explained. “The exact same treatment takes place with modern artwork, where by Nicola enjoys to go to artists in their studios, [and] check out their operate in initial institutional exhibitions, galleries, and auctions right before selecting no matter if to acquire a piece or not.”

Regardless of whether you are intrigued in Bill Cunningham’s legendary avenue-design and style photos or a typical Richard Avedon or Irving Penn editorial, there is a marketplace for you. Erni’s selection functions works from substantial-style editorials and paparazzi pictures to portrait pictures and road design. Making a collection that encompasses several genres includes understanding them independently, as very well as the sum of their sections.

“It is up to each individual collector no matter whether [they decide] to diversify and go over and above one particular unique genre,” Puttaert stated. A latest exhibition of Erni’s selection at the Norton Museum in Palm Beach, Florida, features operate from across unique time intervals and genres. “Expanding a selection in that optic can bring fascinating relations between distinct genre fields.”