Friday 26 March 2010

Practical Experiments and Research- style (1) ♥



These photographs I have found from the website, http://www.becomegorgeous.com/ I chose these four particular hair styles to display within my work because I feel these best portray pure beauty but in a style that is quite grungy and fierce looking. I am most interested in this smoky appearance shown in each image and I feel that these certain hair styles compliment this makeup style thoroughly.


I am going to now look at the styling of clothing within photographs and look at some videos relating to clothing to show a diverse variety of research instead of just basic research that people tend to resort to such as 'Google'! I have already researched into photographers and different projects on my 'Group Critique- further research page' which links to the clothing styles anyway, but I shall focus just on the clothing styles so that I have more ideas to help progress my fashion shoots.


Vivienne Westwood- A tribute to the homeless


This Video is of the catwalk where Vivienne Westwood created a collection of clothing that was influenced by the street look and the homeless approach. It's as if she wanted to show the importance of homeless people and maybe thank them for creating her work by actually including this particular style within her work. I think its quite fun to watch although this could be argued by people who aren't so keen on this.

Bring&Buy SHOWstudio project

I have already included research on the SHOWstudio project- Bring&buy. I don' think it is necessary for me to display this work again but I think this is dominant to the clothing style in the way people have sent in garments to be styled and designed in a creative way. I will look back on this research when thinking about clothing styles because this is extremely useful to me and will help me come up with some clothing designs.


http://stylebytes.net/2007/05/06/fashion-shoot/These next images approach the same idea as I am hoping to portray within my fashion shoots. I was quite surprised to come across this work because I didn't think it would be easy to find someone who has used a budget on clothing within their own shoots.


I am not too keen on these images though, my style of work will be location based which is totally going off the style of this collection of photographs. I just think it isn't really original to have someone posed in clothing placed in different locations in a house, I am hoping to make my images much more visually interesting and exciting to look at.


Experimenting with my model Natalie- Focusing on Clothing styles and Hair styles for my final shoots


I have included some contact prints in my development so that I can see which images are a better quality than others. I shall decide upon which styles to use for my final shoots as well as the other styles that are displayed on the following practical experiment page. I was hoping they would appear larger on my blog but I have still included them to show evidence of the images I have taken.

Here are some photograph experiments I tested out in my bedroom... I was only seeing what garments look good together as set outfits for my fashion shoots. I have used Natalie for my experiments as I was able to use her the night I was planning on doing these experiments. I have also tested out some hairstyles that would compliment the overall style I am wanting to portray... I shall experiment with my other models for the makeup, etc and gather some more ideas for the styles of clothing.

Clothing and hair styles in the same shoot


These images show the first style I was interested in. I had this idea in my head to portray a quite hippy backcombed look with the hair and the tie and I asked Nat to pose in a way that would compliment the theme I was going for. The clothes that Nat is wearing add up to a total of £4.50 in the first two shoots and £6.00, therefore I won't be able to carry out the third clothing experiment due to me not realising the expense of the garments.


These next experiments, I have played around with alternative clothing to see which looked more appropriate with each other. I have combined together the waistcoat and the Beret and mixed and matched the different necklaces to see the effect of both. I quite like the way the pearls just sit nicely on her neck but the fish necklace looks more effective with Nat holding the sides of the necklace posed in a quite cocky way. I really wanted the hairstyle to be backcombed completely coming out of the beret so it would look scruffy but yet elegant in the same way.The price of these garments came to a total of £4.50 for each style so I will consider these looks for my final shoots :)



I have expressed rather a glam fashion look with these cheap garments. I have gone for quite a fashionable but yet cool look to give the clothing some excitement. As I had the clothes looking cool I wanted to represent this with the hairstyle so I thought it would look good having the hair up, backcombed and in a quiff on top. For these experiments I have tested out two styles to see how well each style fitted to my main idea for the assignment. At first this dress was see-through so I have had to put a piece of material underneath to cover the revealing dress. This material was just scrap so it didn't cost anything whereas the actual outfits came to a total price of £5.00 with the waist coat and the dress and £4.50 with the dress, shades and pearl necklace. In this case, I shall consider both style ideas for my final shoots!

The images here show Natalie portraying a more untidy and messy look with this clothing. I have used some rollers in her hair to give that appearance of being messy and I have used the fish necklace as an earring to express a punk aspect with only having one earring in. At first, Natalie was a little nervous and unsure of how to pose but once we started shooting she was fine and we have created some effective pieces of imagery. I have also displayed a photograph of the back view of Natalie to demonstrate how I have managed to get the clothing to actually fit to her body... Yes I have had to adjust and clip some areas because the dress was too big! Even though the pricing of this clothing and extra parts comes to a total of £4.99, as the rollers were £1.49, I think there are much stronger styles I can work from for my final shoots so I possibly won't consider this particular style for my finals photographs on location.



Me and Natalie have managed to customise this blue skirt into a quite modern style dress with a belt tied around the middle. I was going for a more classy but original look to fashion in the way that I have backcombed her hair and tied a tie around her head. Like one of the previous styles I have created, there is a similarity with the style of a hippy look. I am really interested in this specific look, I personally think by customising the skirt to make this dress, there is a sense of elegance peering through the image. Obviously I would have to approve this style of clothing with the model before going out on location because it is a little revealing and they might not feel comfortable wearing this. The total of these items of clothing comes to £4.00 which is a great bargain when you can look like this! I am definitely going to consider this particular style for my shoots, I will just have to check its OK for me to style this on the model.

This final experiment is again quite cool in the way that the shades have been brought into the shoot. I just love the beret and how it draws the line between a French look and a casual English look in this specific clothing trend. I have wrapped my customised material from the skirt around Natalie's arm to give this rich flawless appearance and by having the shades and the hair styled in plats, it finishes off this look quite nicely. I was trying to create a higher class posh approach with the clothing and I am quite happy with the outcome of my design. I will consider this for my fashion shoots as the pricing of the clothing comes to a total of £5.00 exact and being placed in the locations I have studied, this style of clothing will show how cheap clothing actually can look good on people and you don't have to spend a lot to look like this.

Thursday 25 March 2010

Sketch experiments ♥

Sketch 1


Sketch 2


Sketch 3


Sketch 4


Sketch 5
By actually planning ideas out as sketches, this has really helped me to focus on how I want my models positioned, styled and where the lighting should be. These are just some general plans that will help towards my final fashion shoots. As you can see, I have annotated them clearly so there isn't much more that I can say really :)

Final idea ♥

As I am following the idea of having models posed in items of clothing that are priced at a budget which I have decided is £5.00, I am going to use three models that I feel would look great for my shoots, Natalie Walsh, Lewis Price and Becky Aubrey. My intention is to create 5 photographs based in 5 different grungy locations mixing and matching the clothing I shall buy and express different styles and how these items of clothing still look even with being so cheap. I have displayed some photographs of the models I will be using to show who these models are and what they look like. I think it is necessary for me to explain a little bit about why I have specifically chosen my main models as well as demonstrating how I am going to shoot my location images.

Lewis Price - Model 1


I have decided to use Lewis Price as one of my models because apart from him being photogenic, he is a very confident person and I think while I am using models that won't know each other, this will be a positive aspect for making the other models feel at ease with working with him for my shoots. I particularly wanted to use Lewis for my shoots because he will bring the fun factor to my photographs as well as a serious approach if needs be. I know Lewis from being at university and I am pleased he was willing to help out in my project. I found these images of him off his Facebook site and he gave me permission to use them as reference in my work.


Natalie Walsh - Model 2

(Right in the image below)

This is my model Natalie Walsh that I will be using for my photo shoots for this project. The reasons I have chosen her in particular is because I feel that she has got a really stunning appearance and she is just naturally photogenic. I think she would be a great model to use because she can already pose so it will be easy directing her exactly how I want her to look on the day of my photo shoots. Natalie also has this fun and enjoyable personality so I think she will express this fun side to her in my shoots as well as given me serious when I ask. It is important that models are easy to get on with when having to create scenes together and I think the other models will get on fine with Natalie as she is a chatty, confident and generally nice person to approach. I also got these images off her Facebook site. She has given me permission to use these images within my work to show what sorts of poses she is able to achieve.



Becky Aubrey - Model 3

I have decided to choose Becky Aubrey as my third model for this project because she has a distinct photogenic look about her and as you can see clearly she knows how to pose so this is a positive aspect when using her in my photographs. I took these images off her Facebook site to show why I have specifically chosen her for my work. Apart from being able to pose, she has quite a natural appearance to her that I want to portray within my shoots and I think this could look really effective with the items of clothing I have chosen for her to wear. I know Becky through university and she is really good to get on with so I think her personality will come through the photographs and I don't think she will have a problem working with other models she doesn't know. It was nice that she offered to help me out with my project and I am looking forward to seeing the final outcome of these shoots.




Secondhand Stores Research

Oxfam-

This was an advertisement trying to sell Oxfam clothing as true fashion and trying to promote their clothing items. I actually think it works as an advert and sells the clothing well. Even though I wouldn't shop at Oxfam, the quirky garment displayed is rather impressive, it's not a usual style of clothing I would think of finding in this shop so this just proves that clothing can look good even when being at a low price.



This next fashion shoot shows clothing that has been picked out from a collection of Oxfam clothes and styled in a fashionable way. Like the above image, I think this also shows how fashion can still look good when being so cheaply priced. I don't think it's about the price anymore, I think it's about how well you can make a fashion garment look in a photograph.




Here are a few items of clothing that I have found from looking at Oxfam's collection. I have revealed an insight into the clothing that Oxfam offer to help me visualise the sorts of styles within the shop that I can choose from. These are as follows:




i-D Magazine
From the SHOWstudio- Bring&Buy project, i-D Magazine created high fashion images from these garments and then sold the clothing on by putting them up on eBay. This was to raise money for Oxfam which is why I have included this information in my research to show a link between high fashion and cheap fashion. I have previously researched the project- Bring&Buy which shows images from the actually fashion shoots they created from these items of clothing. Here below is an image showing an item of clothing that was sold in the process of raising money for Oxfam.


Primark- Summer+Winter 2009 Collection
Even though Primark is a very cheap place to shop for clothing, the fashion is just as good as the high priced clothing shops such as Top Shop and River island. The styles aren't really that much different so it just proves my point that fashion can look good even when spending a little amount of money. As my project is all about looking good cheaply, I feel that this research is necessary to my theme and so I have included this within my work.
Primark S/S 2010

Loving the style from the clothing to the hair style. This is such a cool classy look in a very natural way!



Hospice shop-
http://miltonkeynes.com/milton-keynes-charity-shop-fashion-willen-hospice.html

http://stpetershospice.wordpress.com/

Looking at the jewellery at the Hospice Shop, it isn't all that bad. Fair enough people might not want to buy things that are second hand but in actual fact there are some decent items of clothing and jewellery. Here is a collection displayed of some accessories up for sale in the Hospice Shop, I would think twice about judging this shop now because it's not all about the pricing of clothes, you can pretty much make anything look good if you put your mind to it and be creative. I would agree that not all of the clothing I am a fan of but when customizing a piece of clothing your self, it can look totally different in style. I have customized many things in the past and it is quite fun experimenting to see what different designs you can come up with from one item of clothing.


Here is evidence that the clothing can look rather tasteful when styled correctly. These are images taken from the Hospice Shop in Milton Keynes. This project was put together with a budget of £30. Obviously my project is going to be a lot harder as my budget is £5.00 but this should be even more interesting to see what styles I can make look good from something so cheap. This relates to my own ideas in a way so I decided it would be a good idea including it within my research as a reference.



I have visited these three specific clothing shops to see what I could find. I have chosen some particular garments that I felt could be customized to look really effective and I have managed to match up the colours and prices so that I am able to use more than one of these within a shoot for one model each. I had a really fun time trying to find different clothing with a budget of £5.00, I didn't realise how hard it actually would be because the clothing these days are overly priced for what they should be. I wanted to put myself in someone else's shoes that doesn't have much money and to feel like what they must feel like in a way. This wasn't to mock people who are poor at all, I just wanted to experiment with this project as I am genuinely interested in this. The items of clothing that I purchased are as follows:

  • Lace dress- £2.50 (Oxfam)
  • Pearl Necklace- £1.00 (Primark)
  • Silky blue skirt- £3.00 (Wigan and Leigh Hospice shop)
  • Waist Coat- £2.50 (Oxfam)
  • Cream beret- £1.00 (Primark)
  • Black Belt- 50p (Wigan and Leigh Hospice shop)
  • Tie- 50p (Wigan and Leigh Hospice shop)
  • Checked shorts- £2.50 (Primark)
  • Black top- £1.50 (Primark)
  • White shades- £1.00 (Primark)
  • Cross necklace- £1.00 (Primark)
  • Fish accessory-£1.00 (Oxfam)
  • Jeans- £4.00 (Oxfam)