What is Boudoir Photography
Boudoir does not discriminate women on size, age or personality.
It definitely is not only a fit for the Marlin Monroe’s of women.
It is for every woman of any background, age, eccentricity and taste.
I asked many people what is the meaning of Boudoir and got the answers (in no particular order):
Reason for boudoir Photography is too liberate and empower everybody, not to shame any body type.
Boudoir can mean many things, for me it means an intimate style shoot.
Some people have started calling anything in lingerie or implied “boudoir”
I just thought it should be a bedroom setting. Since the word means bedroom
It’s really a French term that means a woman’s bedroom or private space . Dressing room or area.
It could be interpreted as looks that one would see/experience in the bedroom or if one is literal, it means images set in a bedroom. Personally, I take the more open interpretation.
Anything from glamour, to artistic nudes, to implied nude, to portraits can be put in to the boudoir category.
Boudoir for me means sensual not sexual like porn PLUS more focus on skin than wardrobe (in relation to fashion). There is artistry involved in boudoir than just showing naked models. But then again the term is being used loosely nowadays. Also when I talked to my models how I define boudoir is almost exactly what they have in mind as well.
Technically, boudoir means bedroom. It doesn’t mean photos in lingerie. So technically, real estate shots of the master suite could be called boudoir photos.
It’s half naked/ half clothed (depending on your perspective on life) women looking hot.
And the public doesn’t think it means bedroom. They think it means ‘sexy photos in lingerie’.
That’s fine, but the English version is wrong. Boudoir is about the woman. It is about her emotion and confidence. Wardrobe, state of dress, and location are all secondary elements after that.
oooh a small biscuit sprinkled with sugar. I like that definition!
It means a certain sensual tone. Outside is far less suitable than the bedroom, but not impossible.
Any Imagery that depicts anything Sensual, Provocative, Intimate , Erotic, Sexy, Confidence, Vulnerable, Evocative, Moody, Assertive, Desire, Lust, Love, Temptation, Seduction, Explicit..be back in a few…time for a quick shower..
I explained it to my parents (pretty conservative) as being on par with Victoria’s Secret or the ’50s/’60s pinup girls. Couldn’t bring myself to mention the nudes – their heads might’ve blown up!
Boudoir Photography is the whole name and it references a particular offering in a marketing program by Steven Palen in Las Vegas in the 80’s or late 70’s.
“Soft, sensual images of a women, not necessarily nude, in lingerie, done as a gift for the man in her life.” His response to a woman who complained about her man looking at Playboy and wished she “looked like that”. He said, even they didn’t. It was all, posing, lighting, wardrobe and make up. She asked, if he could make her look like that and he said Of course. She said, Let’s do it and genre was born. He wrote a few books and lectured on the topic.
Sure women in various states of undress were taken or painted for centuries, but not called “Boudoir Photography.” As time progressed articles of clothing and other props were added, to customize and personalize the products for clients.