Fashion photography inspired by 1990s club culture
When Fashion Photography Meets Memory
At OLA LAB, photography is about more than aesthetics. It is about atmosphere, rhythm, and the stories that remain once the image stops moving. This editorial project looks back to the nineties not as a trend but as a state of mind.
Created in Amsterdam, the series explores presence over performance. A time before constant scrolling, when style came from repetition and confidence lived in posture rather than screens.
The Nineties as a Visual Language
The nineties were textured and imperfect. Denim softened with wear. Tracksuits moved from sportswear to everyday armor. Jewelry caught light in rooms shaped by music and late hours.
This editorial does not recreate an era. It translates it. Through strong silhouettes, muted tones, and a quiet sense of power, the images echo a decade where self expression felt lived in rather than curated.
After Hours and Quiet Confidence
This chapter unfolds in low light. A worn couch. Slow conversations. Back then it was a Cosmopolitan. Today it is an espresso martini. The objects shift, but the mood remains. Presence over performance. Stillness over noise.
The images hold tension without drama. The kind of confidence that does not announce itself but stays.
Editorial Storytelling Through Photography
What makes a strong editorial project is not only the styling or the setting, but the space it gives to personality. This series was built around time rather than speed. Time to sit. Time to look. Time to let posture, gesture, and silence speak. The camera does not chase moments here. It waits for them.
Working in a small team allowed the shoot to stay intuitive. Light was adjusted slowly. Styling evolved on set. Conversations shaped the rhythm between frames. This way of working mirrors how the images feel. Unforced. Present. Honest.
There is also play in this process. Fashion has always been a place to experiment with identity. In the nineties it meant cutting images out of magazines, taping them to walls, trying on versions of yourself in front of a mirror. Today that experimentation happens digitally, but the instinct remains the same. To explore. To shift. To try something on and see how it feels.
This editorial holds space for that exploration. Not as nostalgia, but as continuity. The past informs the present, and the present reshapes the past. What matters is not the decade referenced, but the freedom to move between them.
In a visual culture that moves quickly, creating work that asks the viewer to slow down becomes a quiet statement. This project embraces that pause. It invites the viewer to stay with the image a little longer, to notice texture, expression, and mood, and to let meaning emerge without instruction.
A Creative Studio Based in Amsterdam
OLA LAB is a creative photography studio working across editorial, portrait, and fashion focused projects. Based in Amsterdam, the studio creates imagery that values emotion, texture, and story over trend.
Each project is approached with intention, whether for personal work, brand storytelling, or collaborative editorials.
Closing Notes
This lookbook closes quietly. Not with spectacle, but with memory.
After the lights fade, what remains is the feeling. The rhythm. The sense of being present in a moment that did not rush.
That is the space OLA LAB continues to explore.
Credits
This editorial was created as part of a fashion photography course led by Nancy Schoenmakers, in collaboration with a talented creative team.
Fashion Photography Course from Nancy Schoenmakers: @photographycoursewithnancy
Photography: Carola Barth / OLA LAB @_ola_lab
Models
Marciano: @mmarciannoo
Betty: @bbpetrocchi
Makeup and Hair
Luciel: @bomuberri
Styling
Carlotta: @chaarlssj
Styling Assistant: @jey_ven2005
Fashionwear: @stardustgroningen & @arepaqueer
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