I have been researching 1930s – 1940s beauty gadgets and procedures relating to my university project. I have been fascinated by old fashioned beauty gadgets, many of which look like torture methods. I had planned to do a photoshoot with a vintage face mask I had ordered online however it never turned up. Instead I have been trying to improvise with photoshoot using other objects. One of my close friends does fencing as a sport, whist I was at her house I saw her structured fencing bra made from white plastic which I thought could be a relevant to use instead for my project. My idea behind creating these shoots are that these items which look completley uncomfortable & something you would not want on ‘the body’ are actually designed to help the body or ‘improve’ the body.

This bra is designed as a protection when playing sports such as fencing, however looks like it could be extremely uncomfortable so I thought it would be interesting to do a shoot using harmless objects that look scary such as this as a representation of irrational fear. Irrational fear is often based upon a feeling that has come out of nowhere and developed into something more than it really is like an obsession, the feeling can be very strong and often takes over the reality of the situation.

I decided to use a male model for this photoshoot as I thought it would be interesting to remove gender roles around the object (bra) and see it in a different form. I styled the model in an oversized black suit with only the object underneith as I have been looking at the body I thought it was important for it to have contact with the skin.

I thought it would be interesting to incorporate shadows into this photoshoot to reinforce this idea of irrational fear ‘at the back of the mind always’ following an individual around like a shadow.

Some of these images are not the quality I was hoping for as I have had to improvise with lighting and location due to the covid19 virus meaning I have had to carry out these shoots in my small bedroom, if I could have used the studio and if I had had more space I feel I would have been able to experiment further.

I decided to edit all the images into black and white as I feel my work looks better with the eery and dark theme to go with my project so far. They also look better in black and white due to my bad lighting situation. I may try and recreate this shoot if I have some more time.

Above are styled and photographed by me. Below is a photograph of my inspiration, Photographer Unknown.

This has been my favourite shoot to work on so far – taking inspiration from 1930s hair & beauty gadgets. When researching further into Irrational Fear & Phobia, I found some images of 1930s-1940s beauty gadgets on the internet (See last image for reference). When looking at these images from a first glance I thought they were some kind of torture method rather than something a person would inflict on themselves out of choice. To me these gadgets looked like they were causing harm to the body however the purpose of them was to ‘improve’ a persons appearance. I looked at the way the wires attach to the hair or the head and how to me it looks like some kind of mechanical growth or something from an old horror movie. This all led me to thinking of a way I could create a photoshoot using this old and scary style and linking it in with my idea of irrational fear & phobia.

I had the idea of linking this shoot to ‘negative growths on the mind’ representing irrational fear & phobia. I had some trouble with organising this shoot as I had originally planned to do most of my work in the fashion communication photography studio with good lighting and a white backdrop, because of the recent global pandemic of the Covid-19 virus and the closure of university I have been unable to use any of these facilities. Although I was not able to use the studio I feel my photographs came out really well and I am very happy with them.

I made a makeshift studio in my small living room and used my house mate as my model, I had my other two house mates as helpers to hold up my models hair in sections so I could later photoshop the wires on which I had already taken photos of against the white wall. I used bright pops of colour on my models eyes and the blue satin hairdressers cape to modernise my shoot. I later edited the wires on and also experimented with changing it to black and white. I think the colours work well however the black & white images work much more with my current unnerving theme I have stuck by throughout my project so far.

I have been revisiting my original idea of incorporating fear & phobia with ‘The Body’. At the beginning of this project I was extremely interested in comparing the body to the minds deepest fears. I had been studying the idea of using the body to symbolise a fear such as fear of insects (Entomophobia). I looked at the book ‘Posturing: Photographing the body in Fashion’ which I was particularly inspired by, the book has a selection of photographs by a collection of photographers showing the body in different poses and movements showing the bodies flexibility. I then planned a series of photoshoots with the idea of using different garments on my models body to create a variety of shapes that symbolise insects in a sinister and unnerving way. I did three separate shoots using figure tight clothing compared to loose fitting clothing where you can not see the bodies shape.

I then edited some of the photographs to create certain shapes by adding more limbs in places and duplicating features. Some of my images I feel are strong unedited (Black dress with volume) as the simplicity of the uneven background works well with the ‘crab’ pose the model is doing giving it an eery feeling and can easily be connected to insect movements and shapes.

This is the final kombucha leather ‘scoby leather’ dried out. I am very happy with the way it turned out after the growing process had to be halved. If it had been left to grow for the extra two weeks the leather would have been a lot thicker and I would have been able to use it as a proper material. Because it didn’t have much time to grow it is the thickness of paper but it is very strong and flexible. I am aiming to use this in my final exhibition project if I create a book as one of the pages. I wanted to experiment with dying the leather with natural dye but because of the thickness of it I am scared it could get ruined.

First attempt at creating a ‘scoby’. After researching Suzanne Lee’s ‘Bio-couture’, I have been really interested in experimenting with creating my own sustainable leather. For my final project I have been focusing on a theme of irrational fear and phobia which led me to the idea of using irritating and uncomfortable textures on the body to represent the attachment of fear & phobia. From this I had been thinking about ‘Germophobia’ and how the idea of coming into contact with germs and bacteria can be an extreme fear for many individuals. The current global pandemic of the Covid19 virus has made my project even more relatable.

Image above is a photograph of the scoby I have grown in a plastic box from green tea, kombucha, filtered water, apple cider vinegar and sugar. This image shows the scoby drying out on a wooden board, it must do this for 3 – 4 weeks before it is ready to be waxed down and made into faux leather.

Unfortunately when doing this experiment I had a very small space to grow the leather as I live in a student house and it was becoming hard to store because of the lack of space, it had been knocked during the two weeks I had it in its box meaning that the mixture had become contaminated. I have removed it from the box early however it has still formed the jelly like sheet so I am leaving it to dry to see what it does any way.

This is my first attempt at making sustainable textiles from dried fruit and veg (cucumber). I was really interested when I found Suzanne Lee’s ‘Bio-couture’ creations made from kombucha leather and began to widen my research into other sustainable textiles. Originally I had been looking into Irrational fear & phobia as a running theme for my project, one of my main ideas was to represent ‘fear’ through textiles. I linked irrational fear to the feeling of irritating and uncomfortable textiles touching ‘the body’. Since researching this I became fascinated with the idea of creating and experimenting with my own kind of irritating and uncomfortable materials. I have been looking a lot into the idea of alive vs dead when it comes to objects and materials and when I found out it was possible to make a textile out of dried fruit I was very interested to try this technique.

To create this ‘cucumber fabric’ I sliced the cucumber into very fine pieces so they could almost be seen through. Next I placed the cumber pieces so they overlapped each other on a piece of tissue paper. Then I placed another piece of tissue paper on top and moved them onto a microwaveable plate. Then I put the plate into the microwave and placed two heavy plates on top of the paper to weigh it down. After this I set the microwave for 1 minute on a full heat, after the 1 minute the tissue paper becomes damp and I replaced this with new tissue paper and repeated the process until the paper was almost dry when removed. Next I pressed the veg paper between heavy books for two days until it is completely dry and the image was my end result.

Researching deeper into the idea of contamination and spreading I was interested in creating an image that recreated the body into the minds biggest fear. So far I have been looking at germophobia and thinking of different interpretations of this using ‘the body’. I used photoshop to create this dark styled repetition to represent the idea of germs spreading and mutating. With the covid19 virus being particularly relevant at this point in time I thought it would be exciting to create an image relating to this global pandemic.

This photoshoot is based on my current theme of spreading and contamination relating to bacteria, germs and ‘The Body’. The idea of spreading is terrifying to many people when it comes to harmful bacteria and germs (term known as Germophobia). I wanted to create a simple minimal ‘high fashion’ shoot touching on this theme of prevention of contamination. Corona Virus is very relevant at this current point in time and I think this topic is interesting to research. I wanted the shoot to be really subtle with just the gloves as ‘protection’ from germs contacting the skin. I thought it would be extremely relevant to create a piece of work such as this during this current pandemic, I wanted the shoot to have a hint of irony that connects to what is going on all around the world, the fact the model is wearing the gloves for ‘protection’ however is still touching her face with them is reinforcing the fact that these measures do not work without knowledge and commitment to the cause. I edited all the images into black and white as I want the dark theme to follow through in my research and my own work.

Exploring sounds as a metaphor for Irrational Fear & Phobia relating to’The Body’. I have been looking into sounds that make a person cringe or feel very uncomfortable. For this shoot I wrapped the model in cling-film to create a tight wrinkled effect on the skin, I did this to create the rubbing and unnatural sound. I was inspired by the packaging from processed food to see what effect this would have on the human body and the section the model would have to the tight sensation.

I have been researching into Irrational Fear & Phobias and decided to experiment with ‘The Body’. I am interested in the way Fear and Phobia can adapt the body whether that be mentally or physically. I also like the connection fear and phobia have to the horror genre and ‘Abject’ art. I recently watched Matthew Barney’s short film ‘The Cremaster Cycle’ the film was described as ‘a self enclosed aesthetic system’ by Nancy Spector which I feel really does sum up the film. I would describe the film as extremely unnerving and uncomfortable to watch from start to end. I was inspired from this film to create a shoot that makes the viewer feel on edge or uncomfortable. The generic phobia, fear of teeth (Dentophobia or also known as Odontophobia) is extremely common (fear of the dentist especially being so widely known) and I thought it would be exciting to create something that many people can relate to. I remembered playing a family game a few years ago called ‘Speak Out’ where each player wore a type of stretcher for their mouth that covers the lips and reveals the teeth to prevent normal speech. This sort of stretcher for the mouth is quite uncomfortable which made me think of the more sinister side to the game. I bought the game to use the stretcher in the shoot I had planned. I really enjoy the photography technique of long exposure as I think it displays a theme of the unknown and sometimes can look like ‘struggle in movement’. I booked the studio for this shoot with the white back drop and soft lighting. I then edited the photos on Photoshop. I particularly like the close up image of the model with the mouth restriction in. I edited this image using Photoshop to create this smudged / painted style around areas of her face to make the image look distorted and unknown whether it is meant to be a photograph or a painting. I also really enjoy the idea of building on a photograph using different media and I would like to experiment with this more in future experiments.