Week 5 Styling

The first brief for styling week as to take a series of 'photobooth' style photos, inspired by the way people used to muck around in photo booths for fun, when you were allocated 4 different shots. The only guidelines were that they had to reflect your personality in some way, using different clothing, accessorise and facial expression to portray a sense of identity.

I have always been interested in pop-art and the Beatnik art culture of 1960-70's New York so chose I based my shots around some Polaroids of Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry. I noticed that subconsciously, my overall look personal style is quite similar to that of these two people as I have very pale skin, sharp cheekbones bleach blonde hair and often wear black roll-neck tops.

I chose to do the shoot in front of my bedroom curtains which have a New York Skyline printed on them. This is not only a reference to the New York based Beatnik art scene, but New York is also my favourite city in the world (that I have visited so far). I went there for a few days last February with my dad and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, I fell in love with New York and now my life ambition is to move there one day, so this backdrop is very personal to me. 

The significance of the shots were I'm hiding my face with my hair or the jumper symbolises how I sometimes feel shy and insecure, particularly in front of a camera. The shots where my whole face is exposed, with no make-up and my hair tucked into my jumper represents my true natural self. The shots were I am wearing red lipstick and/or sunglasses represents how we often use clothing, accessorise and make-up to convey our personality to others, or even mask our true self. The red lipstick symbolises trying to look sexy and attractive and the sunglasses represent trying to look 'cool', which seem to be the most desirable characteristics in today's society. 

As well as this I had to produce a 'trend report' based around either high-street, high-end or underground street trends. I visited Oxford Street, therefore focused on High Street trends and also managed to take a few street-style pics. I focused on wide variety of High-Street stores including Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Zara, Cos, All Saints and Office. The main trends that I noticed emerging for A/W13 were punk-inspired tartan, acid-wash/ripped denim and chunky soled shoes, roll-neck and fluffy jumpers, masculine tailored coats, all black silhouettes, leather skirts and bomber jackets.

As a final outcome, I had to produce a photoshoot. To design a concept for my photoshoot, I took elements from my 'Photo Booth' style photos (the hair tucked into the black roll-neck), my 'Trend Report' (all-black silhouettes, masculine tailored coat, leather skirt and bomber jackets. I also took inspiration from an exhibition that I saw at the ICA during the summer, about a cutting  1990's New York based art/fashion collective with a raw, quirky yet minimalist atheistic. 

These are the mood boards that I created to inspire my photoshoot:

Location and Props:

I wanted to use a very urban yet clean and modern setting as a reference to the futuristic aesthetic of many fashion photoshoots and campaigns of the late 1990's. For the location, I chose the River bank round the back of college and the Millenuim Dome, partly because it fitted in with the type of location that I wanted, and also because the area is symbolic of the turn of the New Millennium. 

Mood and Lighting:

I wanted to achieve a hazy, over-exposed feel like the 90's photographers Corrine Day and (my favourite) Wolfgang Tilmans and Jeurgen Teller's recent adverts for Celine. I really liked the contrast between the raw over-exposed look look and the very sleek polished clothes that Teller Created. During the shoot, I made the most of the natural white-light from the grey, cloudy London sky the create this effect. 

Styling:

As well as keeping to the very sleek 90's minimalist aesthetic, I also included some items of clothing that are very personal to me such as my favourite black neoprene jumper and my celtic style pentagram necklace, which added a sense of personality and a very slight 'sporty' and 'goth' feel. I also directly referenced an image from the Bernadette Corporation which features two back-packs overlapping against a white jacket. I thought this was a very unusual idea and wanted to try it out for myself. Whats more, I am know amongst family and friends for carrying an often excessive amount of bags with me, and am nicknamed 'the bag lady'.  

Hair and Make-Up:

As well as tucking the hair into the roll-neck, I also slicked in back for a very clean, sleek modern look. I went for minimal make-up with a natural glow to keep the overall feel very fresh. 

Casting:  

I chose my friend Grace as a model as she is very fresh, faced, delicate and doll-like, with striking features such as her big eyes and high-forehead.  She also had straight dark hair in centre parting which worked well with the hair-style plans that I had.

These are my favourites from the shoot:

And the final 2 shots:

I chose these two shots as I could really see them on the cover of a high-end magazine editorial. I chose two very different shots in both colour and black and white to make it interesting to the viewer. 

I was really happy with how the shoot went, and felt that it really conveyed my personality and style.