DAVID HORST _ Exhibition 2014

"I think that Horst himself wasn't a great follower of fashion," says Brown. "It's not really an exhibition about fashion, it's about style and elegance ... that's his lasting legacy and a sense of classicism comes through very strongly in his work and that doesn't change. In fact, if you look at a Horst picture from the 1930s and a picture from the 1980s, that classicism and inimitable style is still present."

The exhibition itself cleverly mirrored the style of Horst’s photography, with darker rooms being used to exhibit his early shots and a wide, brightly lit room being used to display the colourful Vogue magazine shots. Throughout, the exhibition had a compelling energy and deep knowledge, but delicately expressed. The exhibition could have been over whelming, but with the use of his sketchbooks, rare film footage of Horst at work and a selection of haute couture garments, it made Horst and the surroundings more 'real'. The result is a fascinating exhibition that shows off Horst's work and allows us not just to understand the development of his signature style, but also to witness the changes in women, their fashion and their role in society (pre war-1980s). Horst's colour photographs are rarely exhibited because few of the vintage prints are still around but shown together, alongside over 90 Vogue magazine covers from across the decades, the effect is brilliant.

Horst's skills included using light and shadow to create mood and shape the human form, and used this to create an atmospheric illusion. He created images that transcended fashion and time, producing many an iconic image. It was interesting to see these images in  way that made them timeless, modern even with the simple way he composed an image. Perhaps his colour images were more dates, as the sensual, sophisticated quality of the moody black and white images were lost.

I also found his natural photography very insightful. These photos examined the architecture and form of nature. The shots are so close-up that the subjects are taken out of their natural setting - an examination of their beauty through design rather than their place in the natural world. Of course, my love for print set in and I began imagining wonderful garments printed with these fascinating images.