Music and Fashion Photography
Fashion photography is often discussed in terms of light, styling, and composition. Rarely do we talk about the invisible forces that shape a shoot — the things you don’t see, but feel. For me, one of the most powerful of those forces is music.
Music is the pulse of my creative process. It shapes the atmosphere on set, but more than that, it guides the emotional architecture of the images I create. When I photograph fashion, I’m not just documenting clothes — I’m telling a story, evoking a mood, creating a world. Music helps me build that world.
Music as a Portal
Before I shoot, I listen. I curate playlists for each shoot the way a director scores a film. Sometimes it's the haunting echoes of Sudan Archives or the cinematic crescendos of Hans Zimmer. Other times it's Sade’s velvet melancholy or a deep Afro-house set that feels like ancient rhythms dressed in futuristic skin. The music opens a portal. It transports me, the model, and everyone on set into a shared emotional space.
That shared space is essential. When everyone is aligned with the same frequency, something alchemical happens. The model starts to move not just with the choreography of the body, but with the rhythm of feeling. That’s when magic begins — when the pose becomes a note, the gaze becomes a lyric.
Soundscapes That Sculpt Visuals
I often find that the textures of sound directly inspire the textures I seek in fashion. A distorted guitar might call for something raw and rugged — leather, frayed denim, or aggressive tailoring. A soft piano might evoke silk, gossamer, or a minimalist silhouette against a vast backdrop. Music gives me a vocabulary of emotion that translates directly into visual tone — from color palette to lens choice.
I once shot a campaign entirely inspired by an Alice Coltrane album. Her harp and spiritual jazz compositions led me to photograph in an open desert with flowing garments and a deliberate sense of stillness. Each frame was like a hymn — quiet, reverent, expansive.
Directing Through Sound
Music also gives direction without needing words. When a model is unsure how to move or feel, I change the track. A deep bassline can unlock confidence. A melancholic ballad can draw out vulnerability. I don’t have to tell a model to be fierce, soft, wild, or reflective — I just let the music speak, and the body listens.
Some of my favorite images came from those unscripted moments — when a model danced to a song I didn’t plan, when the beat dropped and they exhaled everything they were holding in. The camera caught something real, because the music gave them permission to feel.
A Legacy of Sound and Style
This marriage between music and fashion isn’t new. From Grace Jones and David Bowie to Aaliyah and Prince, the most iconic fashion imagery is deeply musical. You can hear the images before you even see them. My work as a fashion photographer sits in that lineage — one where sound and style are siblings, not strangers.
I don’t separate the two. To me, fashion photography is a performance. It’s jazz. It’s gospel. It’s tribal percussion. It’s a whisper and a war cry. And music is the soul behind every image.
So if you ever find yourself on one of my sets, don’t be surprised if we begin not with a lens, but with a song. Because before we can capture the look — we must summon the feeling.
And music, always, is the key.
