Robert Mapplethorpe Fashion Show

Robert Mapplethorpe, the late, great photographer, will always be remembered for his black and white portrait photography and his provocative subject matter. He was known as the man with fresh ideas, his art was subversive and shocking and challenged the ideologies of his generation and opened minds. 
Robert also contributed to fashion, both editorially and socially. Fittingly the Alison Jacques Gallery in London is celebrating Robert and his work with an exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe: Fashion Show, which will run until October 5^th. 
Along with the exhibition, a new paperback version of Mapplethorpe Polaroid’s will be released. 
German GQ recently paid homage to the photographer with a Mapplethorpe inspired photo-shoot featuring actor (and heartthrob) James Franco. It turns out; Franco has been cast to pay Mapplethorpe in a movie about the iconic photographer. It’s a clever way to introduce Mapplethorpe’s work to those who haven’t heard of him before. Roberts work was considered exploitive, so is his work relevant today? We live in such a politically correct society were unlikely to see work like Mapplethorpe’s on the pages of magazines such as Vogue anymore. Moreover it seems recently pretty much anything gets complaints. Some of his tamer fashion imagery is still inspiring to photography today moreover I like black a white imagery. Just like the James Franco photo-shoot, Mapplethorpe can still be an inspiration to photographers today, within reason.