Chris Moore will receive the Special Recognition Award at the 2014 British Fashion Awards. Moore will be honoured at this year’s ceremony for a remarkable career that has spanned six decades and a contribution to the fashion industry that will last forever.
Chris Moore began his impressive career at the age of 19 as an in-house studio assistant at Vogue Studios after having completed a two year apprenticeship in the photographic department of a London print house. Moore assisted photographers including Cecil Beaton, Henry Clarke and Clifford Coffin. In 1953, after two years at the studio, Moore joined Camera Press as the agency’s main lifestyle and fashion photographer. In 1957 Moore began his freelance career and over the next ten years worked with clients including The Guardian and the Express as well as covering Paris Haute Couture using in-house models for the editorials.
It was in the early 1970s that Moore became a regular presence on the catwalk circuits; the format having developed into a forum for trade and press. In 1981, Moore moved next door to The Guardian in Clerkenwell, an area which was also home to media titles including The Sunday Times, W Magazine, Observer, The Face and Arena all of which were already or became his clients. In 1999 Moore set up Catwalking.com the UK’s first online site dedicated to catwalk imagery. Featuring collections from fashion designers across the world, Catwalking.com very quickly became one of the industry’s most useful tools for researchers, designers, press, buyers, stylists, photographers, casting agents and producers. A curated selection of his work is currently on display at the Duke Street Emporium in London until the end of the year.
Natalie Massenet MBE, Chairman of the British Fashion Council commented: “Chris is undoubtedly one of the backbones of the fashion industry. He has been photographing for over 60 years, has captured the most iconic moments in the fashion industry, meticulously recording the immeasurable change that has occurred over the last half century. With such an impressive archive of work, and responsible for such an integral part of how the business of fashion works, he is one of the most charming and modest pioneers of our time.”
Jonathan Anderson commented: "Chris is a fashion encyclopaedia. He is also the only person that I would let take my picture on the Champs-Élysées.”
Mary Katrantzou commented: “Chris Moore is the godfather of catwalk photography. He is everyone’s eye into the most iconic moments in fashion and his longevity in the industry is testament to his incredible talent. Catwalking.com was my first entry point into fashion archive, catching up with the details in fashion shows, especially the 90s. I remember spending hours dissecting the clothes he captured so beautifully. Chris was my education and I’m so proud to be part of his amazing archive for fashion journalists, students and designers for years to come.”
Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor commented: ''For 50 years Christopher Moore has been taking pictures of fashion shows around the world. He is such an expert at his job that his company is called 'Catwalking'. His archive is a history of fashion from Yves Saint Laurent to Cara Delevingne - with anyone in between who mattered in the fashion universe. Chris has been in at the beginning of everything and everyone. His camera nestles in a telescope box which has become his signature and his logo. I have worked with him for 25 years - and I salute him.''
In 2006 Moore was awarded a professorship at the London College of Fashion, in 2008 he was named among the top 100 most influential people in UK fashion by the London Evening Standard and in 2012 received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Graduate Fashion Week. His work has been exhibited across the UK including at Number 10 and 11 Downing Street, Liberty and at Kings Place Gallery in London.
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