<p><a href="http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/6a00d8341db04e53ef013489a7eda0970c-pi.jpg" style="display: inline;"><img alt="004kctk3" border="0" class="asset  asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341db04e53ef013489a7eda0970c image-full" src="http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/6a00d8341db04e53ef013489a7eda0970c-800wi.jpg" title="004kctk3" /></a><em><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d&#39;Hiver, Paris, August 1955. Photograph by Richard Avedon © The Richard Avedon Foundation</span></em></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">One of my favorite photographs recently sold for almost $1.2 million at auction. The house of Dior was the buyer, which isn&#39;t odd in the least since Dovima is not wearing just any Dior gown, but the first one designed by <a href="http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/?s=dovima" target="_self">Yves St.-Laurent</a>.&#0160;</span></p>
<p>Are you surprised that a photograph -- let alone a photograph that first appeared in a fashion magazine -- sold for so much?</p>
<p>I&#39;m not.</p>
<p>This photo in particular speaks volumes. It shows that there is both strength in gracefulness (the model &quot;holding back&quot; the elephants) and gracefulness in strength (the dancing beasts). It speaks about the beauty of nature and man-made creations. It speaks of the tension between feminine power, filth, elegance, and brute force. It&#39;s just beautiful to look at.&#0160;</p>
<p>It&#39;s art.</p>
<p>I don&#39;t know much about pricing fine art, but I do know that I consider this photo art. In fact, I think a lot of the editorial photography in fashion magazines is art. I&#39;m not talking about the photoshop disasters that try to sell us a distorted view of what people look like -- I guess you call it commercial fashion photography. No. I love the crazy editorials in the last third of the magazine -- the ones that attempt to tell a story, the ones where the models wear clothes so outrageous and expensive that there&#39;s no way they&#39;re trying to sell them to us. Instead, the magazine and the pictures offer us an escape. Inspiration. Aspiration.&#0160;</p>
<p>The best ones are fun. They make me think. They make me feel. They&#39;re art.</p>
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