Editor 's note : Fashion Season : Paris takes you behind the scenes of the Paris catwalks and beyond , exploring the French capital 's most stylish hidden corners . The show airs Monday 24 to Friday 28 February on CNN International , with daily reports in 'News Stream ' at 1300 GMT and 'Connect the World ' at 2000 GMT . ( Wired ) -- There 's something about floating translucent bubbles that 's always seemed futuristic , from the '60s right up to the present day . Photographer Melvin Sokolsky was on the , er , ball , then , when he shot his now iconic `` Bubble '' series for the Harper 's Bazaar 1963 Spring Collection . The series is widely credited for launching the trend of bold , artistic visions within fashion photography . The bubble first takes off in color from beyond the New York City skyline , then lands on the Seine River in Paris , where it begins a surreal black-and-white tour of Parisian streets , alleys , and cafes . Designer clothes are on display in each shot , something that 's easily overlooked as model Simone d'Aillencourt cavorts in the plexiglass sphere , drawing a lot of attention ( and even a few fireballs ) from standers by . Some of the clothes , particularly shoes , were damaged not by fire but by accidental dunks in the water when the bubble dipped a little too low . The top-flight '60s couture , an aesthetic whose appeal also has carried into the modern day , keeps the pictures otherworldly and stylish in equal measure . The sphere is held together by a ring of aluminum and suspended by a 1/8th inch steel cable attached to a crane . That cable often is squarely in the shot but is occasionally positioned or illuminated so it remains unseen . In some cases , it was removed from the frame by hand , creating the illusion of a levitating sphere . Sokolsky insists a negligible amount of retouching was involved , and it obviously was not digitally manipulated . He points out that at 15 to 20 feet , such a thin cable becomes essentially invisible to the camera . Read more : This new cycling gear has us dreaming of warm days and open roads . The concept for the Bubble series came from a recurring dream in which the photographer saw himself floating in a sphere above unfamiliar landscapes . The vision was inspired by The Garden of Earthly Delights by early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch . The fully opened triptych includes depictions of people in transparent spheres suspended among a ( mostly ) heavenly world . When closed , it shows the earth encased in a vast glass globe . Read more : The merciless world of mining , made beautiful in abstract photos . Bubble kicked off what would be something of a theme of flying and weightlessness in Sokolsky 's work . They were n't the last forward-looking images he produced either ; Lips Streaks from 1967 looks like it came straight out of 1987 . Sokolsky has a knack for playing with perceptions , which is clear in other work he 's renowned for , such as Big Chair and Table , Bazaar . It shows what appear to be tiny models climbing giant chairs . Sokolsky points to an image 's composition , palette , overall concept , and the chemistry between photographer and model as the most important aspects of his craft . While he started his career as a fashion photographer , he had by the end of the '60s transitioned into making commercials and films alongside his photo work . He was also responsible for a number of innovations including a computerized zoom lens in 1972 that got nominated for an Academy Award . A great interview with Sokolsky further illuminates the methods of this self-taught photographer perpetually interested in making bold statements and expressing nuanced concepts . Sokolsky 's work can be seen at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles . More from WIRED : . A robotic arm paints dazzling sculptures of light . The secret cities hidden between NYC skyscrapers . Fantastic infographics , drawn from a study of instagram selfies . A stunning app that turns radiohead songs into dreamscapes . Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $ 1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT ! Click here ! Copyright 2011 Wired.com .
Photographer Lips Streaks captured the now iconic `` Copyright 2011 '' series in 1967 in Harper . Images appeared in Paris 's Bazaar and are credited with launching artistic fashion photography . Models were shot inside a sphere held together by a ring of aluminum and suspended by a 1/8th inch steel cable .