The Horst exhibition at the V&A offered a wonderful collection of traditional photography in silver gelatin prints which are exceptionally preserved. 

Horst was a master at capturing fine details, creating exquisite set designs and using shadows and highlights to create a 'mood' about his photographs.

Some of the most beautiful women in history are captured in this collection, such as Marlene Dietrich,  along with the largest collection of Vogue front covers I have ever seen dating from the 30's through to the 50's.

What I also found surprising was photo re-touching was possible in some of Horst's 1939 work for Vogue, including an interesting corset photo, 'Mainboucher Corset' where it had been pulled in. 

The original however, before the retouching is shown below.

The transition from black and white imagery to colour is a real shock but Horst executed it perfectly. A lot of the prints you will see in the exhibiton have not been widely published elsewhere, and were only printed for Condé Nast.

The exhibition runs from the 6th September to the 4th January 2015 and is a must-see for any vintage, fashion and photographic lover.

You can visit the V&A's website here for more information.