ORSCHEL-READ AT LONDON FASHION WEEK

These are some photos of backstage where i was helping out at the Orschel-Reid show i felt these were the most useful as it showed the men either looking particularly feminine, or even seeing ther shine of their lipgloss.

The dull, monotone colors of the bauhaus graphics are influencial for our own choice of colour. The style of the black and white imagery is dipicted in our final photoshoot.

BAUHAUS MUSEUM OF DESIGN BERLIN


Bauhaus Museum Berling. Photograph taken February 2010.

French Building, New York City. Photographed by Walter Gropius 1928

Bauhaus Building. Photographed by Walter Gropius

During a recent trip to Berling, I visited the Bauhaus Museum. The Bauhaus school combined crafts and the fine arts to develop an individual simplistic style of design. The Bauhaus style quickly became one of the most influential art movements in Modernist architecture and modern design. It influenced art, architecture, graphic design, photography and typography, interior and industrial design. The first image I took of the outside of the museum. The achitectural design is clean, simple and slightly industrial, the line of the building are linear and smooth. The secong 2 images are from postcards, taken by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. The old, dull black and white photographs link with the style of photography that we have been looking at for our project. The buildings are industrial and quite simple in design making them look similar and generic, we are translating this similar theme through our own photography.

Magazine...

Change of lighting?

Window Displays

Androgynous hair

The idea of both models having similar slicked back hair came from the unisex hairstyles that are on the catwalk at the moment. In this photo the hairstyles on this male model are quite feminine with long fringes or curls.

The clean parting and tight to the head look of this hairstyle is very masculine.

As a twist to a slicked back hairstyle, using water to make the hair look wet will give another dimension to the hairstyle on our models.

Again another slicked back style but this time with a quiff.

Androgynous makeup

Bold eyebrows give a masculine look to even the most feminine faces.
Matt, simple foundation with little or no blusher, and darker eyes.
Very little eye shadow or mascara to keep the eyes masculine.

We liked the brushed up effect of these eyebrows. They are the most dominant feature on the models' faces. Very masculine but also original.

Hats for Spring/Summer...

The classic straw hat screams Spring/Summer! They are worn and used at all spectrums, from the high end catwalks to the muddy festival fields. We used them in our photoshoot to add the spring summer look, but to also add to the formality of the costumes.

The hats we used took inspiration from the historical period we looked at - the 1920's Garconne, meaning little boy. The look was founded by Coco Chanel, and she too wore a hat...

Coco Chanel

Katherine Hepburn

Although the hats these women wore were not straw hats, the idea was that the hat masculinised their outfits and rebelled against societys stereotypical norms and values of how women should dress.

We used the hats in our shoot to masculinise further the costumes, and make it more difficult to indentify who is the female and male.

On the catwalk we would use straw hats, because it links so strongly to our concept, and it screams spring/summer!!!

Catwalk Music

We have previously looked at Le Tigre for inspiration for our concept within their lyrics and their identity.

LastFM describe the band as a feminist dance-punk trio, mixing politics and feminism in their music! Although some of their lyrics are an extreme form of "girl power", it is still very closely related to our our concept of the Alpha Female. For this reason I think their music would be great to use in our catwalk. Also, electro-pop is a very fashionable in the music world at the moment, combined with the consistent beat, and the edgy funky sound, I think this music would be great for models to pound down the run way.

Blurring Gender Roles

This picture is brilliant - it represents an element of our concept - the blurring of gender roles in society!

Catwalk Lighting

We want to reflect our concept in spring/summer collections. The use of bright white catwalks forces people to look at the collection, gaining attention upon the props and the concept we would try to portray. It would illuminate the clothing and models and give an impression of sunlight in spring and summer through fresh clean lighting.

Other Spring/Summer collections have done this too...

Lacoste

Sir Paul Smith Quote

"Androgyny doesn't have to mean a buttoned up shirt, a tie and blazer...You could wear a big masculine coat with a little vintage lacy shirt, or a little lace dress with a large sweater"

Sir Paul Smith advises the androgynous trend to not be taken too literally, but to incorporate elements within other fashions.

Our photoshoot had a heavy theme of androgny, due to the models, makeup and costume we used. Our photoshoot was to portray an exaggerated form of our concept, describing the Alpha Female who has become the successful breadwinner, and the blurring of gender identity.

To transform our concept into a fashion show, we would take a much lighter approach, yet still incorporate elements of our photoshoot and historical influence inorder for our theme to flow and be applied to a designer collections such as Jil Sander.

We are now researching into models, lighting, props, hair and makeup and music that could be used for a catwalk...

"Tres Bien" - Le Tigre

Because they will try to convince us that we have arrived,

That we are already there, that it has happened.

Because we need to live in the place where we are truly alive,

Present, safe, and accounted for.

Because we refuse to allow our writing, songs, art, activism

And political histories to be suppressed or stolen.

Because we refuse to be embarassed about the mistakes

And faults and choose to move forward

With a political agenda bent on freedom of all.

I get it I get it I get it...

Tres Bien...

blog inspiration

http://cyanatrendland.com/2009/06/19/gotta-look-sharp-by-emin/

This 'Gotta Look Sharp' blog provided inspiration for our photoshoot & helped us realise the angle we were going for.

Our Photoshoot

Androgynous?

Jil Sander

Jil Sander's themes and values, is not too disimilar from what we seek to portray through our concept. Her first womens collection in 1973 featured tailored trousers suits, classic shirts and distincitve coats - similar to look we were going for in our shoot! Jil Snader wanted to provide a collection for the new generation of business women. Although this collection is 37 years old - the core theme behind it relates directly to our concept, of the breadwinnder female in our modern society!

Although Jil Sander is no longer a part of the company, the name and company lives on and the designers behind the scenes are continuing to create collections for the business woman

The popular colours used in the Spring Summer 2010 collection featured light monochrome...

More Live Window Displays

Louis Vuitton used live models to draw attention to his window and collection







Northumbria University showcased a dance routine using one of the university's windows!

It seems live models are a great way to draw attention from the crowds and create a buzz and interest about the concept you are trying to portray.

We think using live models to display our concept would be great to create interest amongst the public about the designer and our styling - great marketing!

Live Window Display

We really like the way live models are used in the window display at John Lewis to reflect the olympic theme...something we are considering using in our exhibition shop window display.

The Historical Influence of Powerful Rebelling Women

An article available on About.com by Jennifer Rosenberg, describes the political and societal shift experienced by women that affected the fashions of the 1920's.

"A new women was born. She smoked, drank, danced and voted." Oppurtunities that men had only experienced, women were breaking free and rebelling against the old rules and values of society.

The younger generation of women became flappers, and had attitutde and courage changing womens clothing and hair. Girls dismissed their corsets to go dancing, and to make movemet easier during dancing, they shortened thier clothes. They wore suits, long hemlines and flat shoes, became sexually active and premiscous (something always frowned upon previously) and participated in sports.

During this time another trend began to appear, oringinally initiated by Coco Chanel called Garconne, meaning Little Boy. Women flattened their chests and dropped their wasteline. Chanel took inspiration from masculine clothing, such as sailor suits and mechanics dungarees (1920's Fashion and Music.com) and applied it to make comfortable fashion for women.

These elements are reflected within many womenswear designer collections today, as can be seen from previous posts below (Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs and Nicole Miller).