By now you’ve probably heard about empowering portraits for women. If you’re here you’re may be curious to learn more, so let’s jump into it.
Test Of Time
Boudoir portraits are not the latest trend, boudoir has been around for centuries. It just did not have the name associated with these types of portraits until around 2002. Before the age of cameras, artists have painted empowering portraits of women throughout history. You can go to any museum and find beautiful and sensual portraits of women from most time periods. Such as The Olympia painting by Édouard Manet, first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon, which shows a nude woman (“Olympia”) lying on a bed being brought flowers by a servant. Or maybe you have seen The Venus of Urbino (also known as Reclining Venus) an oil painting by the Italian painter Titian, which seems to have been begun in 1532 or 1534, and was perhaps completed in 1534, but not sold until 1538. It depicts a nude young woman, traditionally identified with the goddess Venus, reclining on a couch or bed in the sumptuous surroundings of a Renaissance palace.
Current Time
Fast forward to today where photography plays such a big role in every person’s life. From a simple selfie to an elaborate family photo session so of course it only makes sense there would be this amazing genre of photography called boudoir.
What is boudoir photography you ask… Well first of all boudoir is a French word for bedroom. The term “boudoir” may also be ascribed to a genre of photography. Boudoir photography is not generally a new concept and numerous examples include images of Clara Bow, Mae West and Jean Harlow photographed in a boudoir style from the 1920s through the 1940s.
Typically shot in a photographer’s studio or luxury hotel suites, it has become fashionable to create a set of sensual or sexually suggestive images of women (and occasionally men and couples) in “boudoir style”. The most common manifestation of contemporary boudoir photography is to take variations of candid and posed photographs of the subject partly clothed or in lingerie. Nudity is more often implied than explicit.
Commercially the genre is often (though not exclusively) derived from a market for brides to surprise their future husbands by gifting the images on or before their wedding day. Other motivations or inspiration for boudoir photography shoots include anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, weight loss regimes, other forms of body change or alteration (such as breast augmentation or reduction), and for servicemen and women overseas.
Embracing The Now
Something, in addition, is some women are doing boudoir to reconnect with their feminine side. To embrace their beauty and to regain confidence in their sensuality. Some women will do a boudoir session to boost body positivity or change their mindset about their bodies. Sometimes women want to document their youth so they can look back at the photos when they are older. Women have been known to take boudoir photos after having a baby as a way to fall in love with their new body shape.
Boudoir is a very empowering genre of photography for women. For some women, the sole purpose of taking boudoir photos is to celebrate the current season of their life. The focus is on you, and you deserve to feel gorgeous, empowered, and sexy. The images are wonderful memoirs of just how dazzling, erotic and intriguing you are.
About Couture Boudoir
Critsey Rowe, Couture Boudoir’s photographer, is an experienced, internationally published, and respected photographer who has dedicated her career to helping women feel comfortable and beautiful. With the help of female-only assistants and stylists, Critsey celebrates the uniqueness and intimate beauty of every client and takes truly flattering, tasteful, and gorgeous boudoir photographs.