Translucent Hat c. 1950

Lillian Bassman made this photograph, Translucent Hat, somewhere in her long career. The tones are grey, but they feel full of light. It’s about a feeling as much as it is about fashion. She’s captured something almost like smoke or mist. I wonder what Bassman was thinking when she made this? Fashion photography can be a grind, but she's somehow made it airy, and in this sense, more human. This reminds me of other photographers who have been able to find the strange and unexpected in the fashion world. It has a gossamer quality, and a sense of something emerging. It’s great to see that artists like Bassman can invite us into this world of the unexpected, and to see something new.