INK Focus - Bruce Usher

This series of photographs is the latest project from art director Bruce Usher, who was formerly creative director of ad agency Wieden+Kennedy and is currently art director of Dazed.

For this body of work Usher collected vernacular photographic prints via eBay and worked with INK-retouch to integrate Tamara Rothstein’s fashion inspirations into vintage settings. The collected photographs taken by ordinary people rather than artists or photographers show everyday images that preoccupy the home and the heart rather than a museum or gallery. Usher has re-imagined these scenes bringing them into a different sphere by redressing the subjects, placing SS22 looks onto the characters. This play with high fashion and ordinary life mirrors the contrast between eras which are also at play here. The simple shift of style subtly changes the mood of the whole image, both allowing these old photographs a very contemporary feel and highlighting contemporary fashion set against these backdrops. Modern tailoring and colour stand out against dated haircuts and interiors taking the viewer to an alternate reality of time and place. 

INK’s retouching team has seamlessly integrated these carefully chosen looks into their settings. This vital part of the process allows the photographs to be read as a whole focusing on the blending of these two worlds. The way that Usher has played with setting and style creates an otherworldly experience of both photography and fashion that feels simultaneously cutting-edge and historical.