Tagged: fashion

“room service”: fashion editorial

(pre-editing)







I didn’t want FILLER to lose its roots in fashion and trend investigation, however fashion editorials are not a strong point of mine. I have always preferred candid, simplistic photography, and so I decided to use this to create a (sort of) style editorial for the zine, using people’s comfort foods as a prop, and actually quite a main focus, in the photos. My further knowledge and research into youth trends highlighted a trend in nightwear and lingerie, notably silky, pastel fabrics and loungewear – which coincidentally link to this rising trend in self care, looking after and loving yourself.

I wanted to create a candid, intimate photo shoot, which looked at the clandestine act of comfort eating in bed, perhaps in glamorous lingerie or nightwear. The photos focused on the act of eating more than the fashion itself, combining feminine pastel colours with grotesque, messy foods such as cheeseburgers and fries (which I styled with ornate glass and silverware to parody how inexpensive and unglamorous they are often perceived to be).

 

 

development of concept: food & fashion

Ader Error

In my tutorial with Vanessa today we went through my progress so far in terms of collecting submissions for FILLER, as well as my own content that I have begun to think about. We discussed how I have an interest in food photography and the discourse around food and diet trends, and how this translates well into fashion communication as the relationship between fashion and food is rather tenuous. This led me to consider how FILLER could focus exclusively on food and fashion, as it is a theme that appears in a lot of my research, inspiration and ideas, and also makes the zine personal to my interests (which is after all what a zine is all about). I also stated how people seem to be excited to engage with content surrounding food, as I received a lot of responses in my comfort food survey. I have therefore decided to work with this naturally emerging theme of food and tailor my call for submissions to focus more on food-related pieces, which has led me to feel a lot more excited about the development of the project, as a truly unique publication based around my personal interests but catering for the individual, forward-thinking reader that is still interested in trends, art and fashion.

 

North: Fashioning Identity @ Somerset House

I visited the North: Fashioning Identity exhibition at Somerset House to collect ideas around how I can research within fashion and culture and curate a creative outcome. The exhibition was curated by Lou Stoppard and Adam Murray, and Lou Stoppard is a constant source of inspiration to me in the fashion journalism and curation world. The exhibition was a vast, detailed display of how the fashion and art industry has taken inspiration from the culture and history of the north of England.

The exhibition space was curated into sections that unpick different areas of how the North is depicted and drawn up – looking first at documentary and fashion photography throughout the ages that has featured recognisable symbols and stereotypes (architecture and landscape, ‘the quintessential Northern woman’ and the Northern family and lifestyle).

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WEEK 4: deepening my research

Our group crit on 17th October revealed that my ideas so far are perhaps too textile based and that there is not enough research to back up my ideas as a realistic “manifesto” for fashion change. As I do not want to alter my ideas completely, this has encouraged me to continue and deepen my research into areas that relate to my chosen topic, and ensure that I bring fashion/garment ideas and visuals into my work (as much as I do enjoy to work with art and lifestyle concepts). I do not want my work to focus on textiles or plant dyes necessarily but do want to use this idea in my publication, so will ensure I incorporate this somehow into other visual work – perhaps to be used in illustration or collage for fashion? Showing that I have considered textile methods such as fabrics and dyes while also illustrating finished garments in trends?

I have conducted some research in my sketchbook into fashion illustrators to strengthen my illustration work, and one in particular that I looked at interested me. Elyse Blackshaw’s fashion illustrations are expressive while also being young, fun and contemporary. They remind me of the comments I made on Basquiat’s work at the start of my research, of how I wanted to learn to be more expressive and not to confine my work too much or be too perfectionistic. Her figures focus on colour and texture rather than defined shapes, with a childlike quality.

Elyse Blackshaw fashion illustration. Instagram: @elyseblackshaw

 

I have also begun to look more thoroughly at trend reports and trend books, e.g. at Trend Union’s books, the “mode information” website (which stocks styling forecasts, trend books and colour books) and WGSN reports online, to examine the kind of imagery used and how trends are portrayed, described and analysed. This has given me a better understanding of what my publication should include, from the graphics/layout, to text, photography and illustration, and has inspired me to create a broader range of imagery to enable the book to act as a sort of “moodpboard” so that readers can really understand my concept.