“Fukasawa Elisa wears John Galliano”, “Erin O’Connor wears Vivienne Westwood”, “Tominaga Ai wears Prada”… fashion shoots? Not in the typical sense. Japanese photographer Izima Kaoru (born in 1954) shares the language of a fashion editorial in his pictures (they were indeed imagined for Zyappu magazine at first), but these are linked with another thematic: the thematic of the crime scene.

Unlike crime scenes from popular TV shows such as CSI, NCIS, Cold Case or many others, Kaoru’s images are a high stylization of the motive of death.

High because of the pictorial quality of the landscape and the sets, the quality of the colors and the composition, but also high as in haute… Couture. The aestheticism of death is conveyed through clothes. The clothes are the matches of the crime weapons: they are already the post-mortem shroud.

Okamoto Aya wears Eri Matsui, 2001

But these are dreams and fantasies: they represent the -often violent- death of beautiful and/or successful women. Izima Kaoru worked with famous actresses and models for these series of photos (he started in 1993), published in “Landscapes with a corpse” (last publication in 2008). He asked his models which clothes would they choose if they had to die, and which would be the context of the ‘crime’ itself. From these questionings came poetic variations on the theme: the vamp in Yves Saint Laurent, the femme fatale in Gucci, the intellectual in Jil Sander, and so on.

Sakai Maki wears Jil Sander, 2008

The theaters where the corpses lie are woods and highways, motels and empty rooms… with two leitmotivs, the use of vivid colors and the solitude of the corpse. No murderers, no witnesses. There is only room for the intimate dialogue between Death and its victims. This is what gives some spiritual feeling to the pictures; the reflection about dead beauties and the beauty of death has a strong philosophical meaning that goes further the editorial thing.

Erin O’Connor wears Vivienne Westwood, 2006

“IK: Fashion photography is a simulation play on everyday lives or life styles, to fulfill the readers’ desires for the ideal lives or styles that they want but cannot be courageous enough to lead. I think then, the moment of death can be simulated as a theme of fashion photography, as well.” (Quote from an interview by Lucy Silberman for Interview)

Sato Eriko as Cat’s Eye

Fukasawa Elisa wears John Galliano, 2001

Sato Yasue wears John Galliano, 2001

Hasegawa Kyoko wears Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, 2003

Hasegawa Kyoko wears Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, 2003

Kuroki Meisa wears Gucci, 2006

Shingyoji Kimi wears Hermès, 1996

Find more about Izima Kaoru: f a projects and Von Linen galleries