Agnes Lloyd-Platt, is a photographer that just won W Magazine’s photographer contest called The Shot. At only 26-years-old, she’s added a sense of color, optimism, and fresh direction to an industry that has for decades seem closed off and traditional in its choices. In their interview with her, she talked about being judged by a panel of fashion elite and what her message is. And to many people, her message is just what every other photographer in the fashion industry should be saying as well.
Platt said, “I think the most prominent one is body image. Casting is really important. There’s many ways that you can look at the message, because it is broad, there’s body shapes and skin types and attitudes and character and all these kind of things, and I think as long as you’re aware of who you’re photographing and where they come from and what their story is, how they want their body to be seen, then you’re showing it to people in the best light and really highlighting it in a positive way. But it’s difficult to talk to an agency or a casting agent and say we’re looking for a girl who needs to be bigger than this size, without saying we need her to be plus size, because she’s really not plus size at all – she’s the majority of women in the UK or the US.”
Though it may not seem like a big deal, it’s a very big deal that someone like Platt is voicing her opinion on the lack of body diversity in fashion –especially because since she won the contest, she has the chance to work with pretty much any model that she wants with the W Magazine name backing her, and yet she is still making it a priority to be inclusive no matter how high fashion it gets.
She went on to explain her experience in working with curve models saying, “…then you talk to them, and they’ve got all these ideas of how they can change the industry and how they think that they can only do it from the inside. It’s really great, because essentially when you’re shooting together, you’re always going to be a team, and you’re always going to be looking to produce the best work.” Is it wishful thinking to hope that all new and influential photographers have this outlook and start booking curve models? I hope not.
