As previously mentioned, the longer and faster the lens, the better it is
for fashion work. Check just about any catalog on womens or mens clothing.
Most are taken with at least a 200mm f2.8, 300mm 2.8, or sometimes even
longer. It gives you great control over your background, gives you just enough
to show a setting without having it distracting, and keeps the sets small. For example, with a lens around 50mm, you would around a 10' to 15' area as the
background. With a 300mm 2.8, which is what I use regularly, you only need
a background wall of around 6-8' in width. You can also use the longer lenses
to isolate the background enough to get rid of any distractions, so that you
could shoot on a busy street if you wanted, and only use a small portion of
the background to make it look like you are in a park setting.
If you are looking at the 85mm and 105mm to keep costs down, I would suggest
that you look at a 135mm 2.8 which are reasonably priced. or, for around $400
(at least for Nikon), the 180mm 2.8 Ed is a great lens for fashion work, and
