About
Power of Witches was developed in collaboration with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons with the intention of laying bare every step in the creation of a fashion image. Rather than presenting the process as a singular activity masterminded by the photographer, the idea was to show the breadth and rich complexity of the process, and the skills of the many people involved. The project was based around a shoot commissioned for the Autumn 2004 issue of AnOther Magazine, styled by Alister Mackie and featuring Comme des Garçons’ Witches collection from Autumn/Winter 2004. A live-broadcast shoot allowed SHOWstudio viewers to witness the initial day-to-day activities—conversations, experiments, interruptions—that fuelled and nourished the creative direction. They could also pose questions to the creatives involved, including both Kawakubo and Knight, answered in a live discussion forum.
Throughout the progress of Power of Witches, the process was documented at every stage. Here, stills taken during the shoot are a testament to the action on set, while captures of Allan Finamore's stages of retouching illustrate the rarely-seen transformative process between raw, untouched initial shot and the final glossy pages. The entire three-month project arc, from the original discussions to the pictures being published in the magazine, are documented in Knight’s Picture Diary. Its 270+ images show preliminary studio shots, Knight’s personal progress reports and points of reference, retouching sessions and Rei Kawakubo’s responses.
