Year 1

AGENT PROVOCATEUR

 

Beginning to research into various other high-end brands that supply similar, fetish-like underwear in which Mcqueen could also supply, i came across Agent Provocateur. Agent Provocateur was founded in 1994, and was established by a couple who engaged in creating lingerie that provided an evocative nature and created imagination for the wearer and possible viewer.

Ive chosen this brand as a main topic to look at as the history behind the designs and the conflictual  themes in which provoke a sexual tale were potentially how the designs progressed. At the time the designs were made, objectification was at its highest and going for a feministic view was a main social factor, so the brand (forgetting about its highly priced value) seemed tragic and tacky – until the realism of undergarments really became noticeable throughout fashion and brands such as Victoria Secret were also released.

Hopefully, my ideas for the styling can also come across similar to this – bondage-like attire with dark, almost grotesque colours and a plain, very simple backdrop.

BRAND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN:

McQueen’s designs are iconic and even more so, the way he portrays them on his models and within the look book. He designs all clothing items, including kids – so how could i move such an open and iconic brand forward, when its already in the high-end market?

McQueen does indeed design bikinis, yet I’m still unable to find a large range of lingerie / underwear, considering his concepts are based upon fetish and tradition (amongst other things of course), i think these would be perfect ideas for underwear designs – especially in the market today where under-garments are an important part of your wardrobe.

So, i am going to look into designing a ‘bed-room’ themed collection to over come the gap in the market for Alexander Mcqueen. Using his bondage-like and futuristic designs, i think his concepts would be ideal for such a broad range of audiences, especially within adolescent years of the 21st century, underwear is becoming much more of an open topic and major accessory.

LIGHTING & LOCATION WORKSHOP

  

 

WORKSHOP:

I simply used a white background and found black clothing to act as a contrast. We used natural lighting instead of involving studio fixed equipment and i think the images have a really nice, natural balance in them from doing so.

Also, location hunting – just playing around with various, appropriate angles that can possibly be used on an outdoor shoot and learning how to add dimension to a basic outfit through this.

LOOK BOOKS

FROM CHANEL, 90’s

FROM VERSACE, 90’s

 

FROM YOHJI YAMAMOTO, 2000’s

 

WHAT IS A LOOK BOOK?

A lookbook is a set of images from a designers new collection / range, assembled for advertising and marketing purposes.

Having never of actually worked on a look book or researched far into them, my initial and ideal approach to one would be to completely simplify and strip back the layout, focusing entirely on small, repetitive photographs which are taken from a designers  collection. To my knowledge, I’ve actually come across many more unique and playful ideas for a look book than i thought i would. I feel that there is a small line between the difference from a zine to a look book, so i will need to make sure I stay modernised in my approaches and also the photography involved.

 

 

BRAND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

     

Mac, founded in Canada, 1984 has now established a worldwide, multi-million make up brand – not only with their own ideas, but adapting upon themes such as comics or pop-stars, ones who are willing to promote themselves through the make up.

I think MAC could be a really interesting idea to develop and extend multiple branches from, specifically clothing. The specific campaigns and limited edition seasons I could focus on, as they all have so much background and stories behind them.

“Archie’s Girls” specifically, was the limited edition set in which the make up told the story of the typical ‘girl next door’, Betty, and her enemy, the colourful and outgoing, Veronica. I think this set could be perfect to adapt a possible clothing range on, with veronica in latex, leather and red and the other set possibly showing a more feminine side.

MACRO TRENDS

A trend is whats popular or ‘in-vogue’ at a specific moment of time, a movement in which nationally or globally followed. A trend can be either classified as a macro or a micro trend.

 

Micro trends are typically the smaller, less-obvious trends, for example, patch pockets or rings/necklaces.

Macro trends are the smaller trends within the major movements in fashion but larger than micro, for example, a specific colour or accessories as a whole.

FINAL ZINE

EXAMPLES OF SPREADS FROM MY FINAL OUTCOME / ZINE :

Keeping the zine layout minimalistic and clean, i wanted to take the same approach as maybe a read that would be of holy notice or even as simplistic as the bible – of course with the juxtaposition of the bright red contrasting against the pale palettes and black. I have kept the same text throughout, also very bold yet simple – considering features within religion again – with the statement paragraph on the back cover stating all holy commandments to bring the front and back cover together, contradicting the evocative images next to them.

 

SAVE OUR QUEEN!


I thought it would be interesting to play around with the iconic figure Kim Kardashian and manipulate her into becoming a character completely opposite to what she is known for now, being the queen. This idea helped portray my sub theme of contradictory or irony within this upper-class world. To make this idea more noticeable, I have added the iconic quote of ‘Save Our Queen’, highlighting that the 21st century are more likely to save the celebrity Kardashian, than our own royalty – putting them both on equal hierarchy.