Throughout my research into the fast fashion I have come across many issues within out day to day routines that are causing a large effect on our planet. I have chosen three common problems that are easily resolved through small but very beneficial changes such as washing less and on a cooler setting, sourcing clothing sustainably and learning how to reuse and recycle clothes. I wanted to create exciting, eye catching photography to feature in the editorials aimed to attract the target demographic. I decided to source locations that would reflect and promote these issues and that is where I got the idea of shooting the wash less editorial in a Laundromat. I created my own backdrop for the reuse and recycle shoot with multiple pairs of denim jeans, I chose denim as the denim industry has been proven to be one of the main causes of environmental issues life-threatening concerns in the world. As for the sourcing sustainably shoot, with inspiration from photographer Laura Allard Fleischl, I will be looking to photograph in second hand stores, flea markets and charity shops. Throughout my experimentation I discovered a new appreciation for film photography so, I have decided that this would be the perfect shoot to photograph in film. Having taken many photos in film I thought they would be perfect to use on the social media platforms also.
Main Page
Wash Less GIF
Wash Less Shoot
Styled, photographed and edited by me.
Inspiration for laundrette shoot
My inspiration for this shoot came after I fell across this retro style, laundromat. I knew I wanted to create a ‘wash less’ editorial and after discovering this location I decided this is what my wash less shoot was going to be. I loved the vintage style laundry machines with a slightly yellow/beige colour, therefore I have decided that yellow will be the primary colour of the styling in this shoot. The movement of the washing machines I think will be a good aspect of this shoot and perfect to create a moving GIF.
Conceptual Sustainability Video
Not only did I want to create a colourful and bright campaign I also wanted to create a short clip that is conceptual and portrays the beauty of nature. Many campaigns and clips that are currently in the media are showing the problems within the industry, bad working environments, masses of clothing left in landfill and endless animal cruelty videos to name a few. I wanted to create a film that represents the beauty that we currently have in the world, the places that we may one day loose if fast fashion is to carry on the way it currently is. This film will be made up of short clips representing a part that fashion needs to consider and things that are slowly but fiercely being threatened by the industry. My hopes for this film is to have short, effective clips with a narrator explaining their worth in the background.
Don’t Throw Away Your Denim
The fashion industry is now one of the largest, most polluting, wasteful industries in the world. The industry is so reliant on energy-intensive manufacturing it could mean catastrophic environmental consequences. When it comes to different fabrics and the use of different techniques and processes through its supply chain, the denim industry is by far one of the main causes of serve environmental issues and threatening concerns in the world. Therefore, the industry needs to guarantee a circular economy, “one that moves beyond fashion’s linear model of take, make and waste, to close the loop.” – Isabella Salini, Disseration. ‘Can denim be sustainable?’, 2019.
I wanted to create a shoot that encouraged people not to throw away their clothing, and as denim is one of the most polluting fabrics in the fashion industry I decided to revolve the shoot around denim.
This denim photoshoot and film I managed to collected 8 pairs of denim jeans from friends and family. I saw these boards and thought the pastel colour would really compliment the denim, creating a strong aesthetic. I dressed the model in a denim jacket I bought from a second hand vintage store for half the price in comparison to a current high street store denim jacket. I used minimal make up as I wanted the focus to be on the colour of the denim which also enhanced her blue eyes.
Reflection
Throughout my initial research I was looking at various types of photography, trying to get the feel of what outcomes would be best suited for my website. Along with that I was also looking into sustainable advertisement videos such as Monki’s close the loop and Stella McCartney’s sustainability video of which inspired me the most. My aim was to find a common ground between the two, combining conceptual nature clips with bold bright colours accompanied by an encouraging narrative.
The first test shoot in a studio using a plain background featuring clothing swapped through friends and bought from charity shops to show the creative side of using second hand clothing to create fashionable and unique looks. However, my vision was to make a bolder statement therefore I experimented by adding coloured backdrops which I felt transformed the photographs. Shortly after this, I decided to go in a slightly different direction in terms of my outcomes featured on the website. I originally thought of doing one long video that featured on the swap platform but further into my research and experimentation I’ve decided that I am going to go down a different route as I feel I want to display the beauty of nature in one conceptual film as the promotional video for the platform. But, I want to ensure that I remain with my initial reasons for creating the swap platform and include fun, bold and informative elements so I have decided I will also create editorials to feature on the website.
Colour Shoot
I wanted to a mini shoot that explored the colours I want to incorporate into the clip. Bold, bright colours and patterns against bold and textured backgrounds. I wanted to do a practice/quick shoot to experiment with colour and styling, also ensuring when I film that the location is appropriate for the narrative of the clip. I thought this blue background and the texture from the paint peeling off perfectly complemented the knit clothing.
GIF
“Honestly, I always knew that fast fashion was a bad business, but I was wilfully ignorant so that I didn’t have to give up my shopping addiction that felt baked into my personality” – Arden Rose, Fashion Revolution
Edited Studio Shoot
I decided that I wanted to create the images from the shoot much bolder, the gel lighting didn’t create the strong colour effect that I wanted. Therefore, using photoshop I edited my strongest images, adding block coloured backgrounds to create bright and bold images. I want to use these images primarily for the social media aspect of the campaign, ensuring the bold colours are represented throughout. I will experiment further with these images, I feel they would also be suitable to create collages, and gifs for the social media and online presence of the campaign.
