In my last art and design module I designed and created an evening dress for industry based project for Anh Mao. As a continuation of my design journey I was next assigned to assist a photography student who would photograph my dress on either location or in the studio which I would style. My aims were to potrey the dress how I wanted it to be seen and wore. Also hypothetically if it were be advertised or appear in a magazine; how I would want it to appear.
I began researching images that could inspire and influence how I’d like my own dress to be photographed and styled by looking at publications such as ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘Pigeons and Peacocks’ (a magazine produced by London College of Fashion students). I love the editing that is used on photo shoots in these magazines with effects that look blurred or dimly lit they always come across cool and chic. Another thing I’ve always admired is the styling on most of the shoots, which are always extremely fashion forward however often hold a vintage look within them. With my theme being Entomology I wanted to go for something quite dark and dusky, this would contrast my chosen element of honeycomb, but I think it would bring the more creep and dark side of the theme through.
The photographers that I focused on in particular were Daniele Duella and Iango Henzi, the Italian and Swiss duo, who regularly shoot the covers and many styling pages in ‘i-D ‘magazine. They shoot mainly in black and white and have a very distinct style which is very striking. You can look at a photo shoot and the images will stand out as theirs instantly. Their models are always stunningly beautiful with the images looking sleek and polished. Although my images will be printed in colour, they will be toned down and saturated leaving them with a very similar look.
I also looked at Rankin. With amazing images of beauties such as Heidi Klum, Kate Moss and Lily Cole his images are strong, sexy and fashion forward which is exactly the look and style I want my own photo shoot to give off. This has inspired me to think about shots I could create that focus more on a strong fashion image that evokes a certain style rather than just shots that focus on the dress itself. I realised it was about the image as a whole and how it will make people feel.
I collected a series of tear sheets as suggestion of poses to try out at the shoot. I chose poses that would best show off my dress in the best way possible as well as reflecting my theme. I wanted the shoot to look very editorial, like that of styling shoot pages in Elle and Vogue. I wanted high fashion poses and very striking and strong images for my final prints.
When it came to the styling of the dress, accessories, hair and makeup, I wanted to keep things elegant and simple. My model had amazing bone structure and long honey brown hair which i wanted to accentuate and take full advantage of. Therefore I left the hair loose with a slight wave and styled it with a simple butterfly clip; which tied in with my theme and added a more glamorous feel and more detail as I wasn’t going to be using necklaces which would draw the attention away from the bodice (the most detailed part of the dress.)
I wanted to simply at a shimmer and highlighter to the models cheekbones to keep the look quite natural and glowing. We used a pale lipstick and went for contrasting dark eyes to bring in the darker element of the theme. For some of my portrait shots I decided to change the lipstick to a dark red to create a bolder look, this also worked fantastically.
As the dress holds a lot of detail and not wanting to draw the attention away from the dress I chose to keep the accessories simple. I used natural themed jewellery like butterflies (ring and hairclip) and a leaf cough for her wrist. With ankle socks being a popular current trend I updated the look with a pair of metallic gold ankle socks which create a statement without being too bold as they blended in with the colour pallet. Before this idea i had contemplated bare feet to keep it raw and more natural however I think I have styled it much more glamorously by going against that, teaming the ankle socks with cream and black stilettos.
On set everything went smoothly, with everyone understanding what the intended outcome of the shoot was. The model posed elegantly and professionally throughout, understanding all instructions thrown at her and the photographer captured shots that really stood out. We used a fan for some images we wanted to capture during the shoot which was difficult to get right at times, but when the timing was right it really drew attention to the different fabrics in the skirt of the dress and made the hair look beachy and natural yet sleek at the same time.
I am extremely pleased with the outcome of the shoot and my final images. I think i have managed to capture something that not only shows off my dress fantastically but it excellent photography and really looks like the model in the picture has a story to tell. The photos have depth and elegance yet look high fashion too which is exactly what I was looking for. The editing of the images has enhanced this even further, with a slightly saturated finish and toned down colour the images look dark and dusky with reflects the raw and webby theme I based it all on. I particularly love the portrait shot which looks like a cover shoot. For this, bolder colours were brought out in the editing which brought out the more vampy look of the red lipstick contrasting with the neutral dress and the other images chosen, showing both of the sides of my them I wanted to portray, soft and elegant, with dark and creepy.
If I was to do the shoot again and I could make any changes I would perhaps go more towards the darker side of the theme by using props such as webs for the model to play around with. It would also be interesting to try out more camera angles to mix things up more, with the model lying down or trying out more exaggerated poses.
