Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, August 1955

This photo by Richard Avedon is well-known for a reason. At the time, the contrast between the dirty elephants and the clean, elegant model was unheard of. Nowadays, this is not as jarring. Artists constantly push the boundaries, and society as a whole is not as conservative as we were in the 1950s.

What really makes the photograph unique is the textures: the rough elephant skin and the smooth fabric of the dress. There is also a contrast between the tones, which is further emphasized because the photo isn’t in color. The elephants are grey while the model in her dress is black and white.

Dovima with Elephants, model, dress by Dior, Cirque d’ Hiver, Paris, August 1955


The shot was taken by Rankin to recreate an iconic black and white image from the 1950s as part of a BBC4 documentary programme.

The programme looks at how Rankin attempted to recreate his favourite iconic images.

The shot with Azizah and Mya featured Erin O’Connor, who is an international catwalk model also famous for her M&S adverts with Twiggy and co.

The photo was a recreation of a Richard Avedon image from 1955 called 'Dovima with Elephants'.

The elephants were all happy to pose and did not mind the cameras and Rankin himself was said to be “thrilled” with the finished image.

Courtesy of Simon De Winter

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I have noted an "odd" thing about the Rankin photo, which was an attempt to recreate the famous Avedon photo. The Rankin model appears to be "pushing" the elephants away, where as the Avedon model appears to be posing in unison together with the elephants.