By james art The imperative with which British Vogue introduced its December 2008 edition? “Dream on.” Featuring Kate Moss reclining on a bed of sparkling Dior tulle, Fantastic Fashion Fantasy gave its readers (and contributors) “license to travel to the wider shores of the imagination”. Karl Lagerfeld sketches his vision of a masquerade ball where all the men have “Tom Ford tails” and all the women have questionable morals; the Rodarte sisters published their dream diaries featuring Wednesday Addams, ruby slippers and Billy the Kid; and David Bailey contributed a series of surreal floral still lifes: artichokes, cabbage roses, orchids… “Look, I don’t want to turn into Ansel Adams: a tree is a tree,” he clarified with his typical gruffness. “[Anyway] Irving Penn owns pictures of flowers the same way Helmut Newton owns swimming pools. It’s hard to miss. I took these pictures not as a tribute to Irving Penn, but as a challenge to him.
However, it was Tim Walker who presented the most striking visions for the release: a dark and slightly twisted take on Roald Dahl’s stories, starring Tim Burton and his then-partner Helena Bonham Carter. After all, “who else delves into the murky realm of childhood, the subconscious, and the fantastical more vividly than Burton?” Vogue wrote to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory director. Walker, then preparing for an exhibition at the Design Museum, shuttled between his London studio and the countryside around Colchester to shoot the 26-page portfolio, which – in addition to Burton and Bonham Carter as the Tweets – features Dev Hines as Willie Wonka, Karen Elson as The BFG and Imelda Staunton as Aunt Sponge.