Fashion Resit: Deconstruction

Fashion Constructed Image Resit.

Deconstruction of Fashion images.

The images I have chosen to look at are a set from Harper’s Bazaar of Kate Moss, taken by Terry Richardson.

The set consists of 19 images, showing the model (Kate Moss) wearing the clothing from the recent summer collections. The images are split into two styles, daytime shots and night shots, which alternate throughout the set.  The images are arranged as full portraits, one per page, occasionally broken up with a double page spread.

The model for these images has been chosen for many reasons. Her figure is what a lot of women would call ‘ideal’, and aspire to look like, especially during summer.  The model has also been chosen to compliment the location. Set in a tropical environment, it suggests a ‘jet-set’ holiday and lifestyle, which is further emphasized by using Kate Moss, who is one of the most well known and highest earning supermodels at the moment.

The clothing worn also ties in with this perfect lifestyle, with most items costing thousands of pounds. As far as style and colour goes, the clothing is predominantly black (apart from the two black and white images, in which she is wearing white), and doesn’t feature any other colour apart from in the night images. In these, the use of colour is bold, and the attention is drawn away from the location and focused fully on the model.

The makeup and lighting changes completely between the night shots and the day shots. During the day time shots, the make up, along with the lighting, is much softer. The day images look as though soft-boxes are used to light the model, with natural lighting for the background.  The make up is more natural, which compliments the natural environment in which the model is set. The hair also follows this style, being let down in most of the day time photographs and giving the model a more relaxed look which is also shown in her poses in these shots.

In comparison to this, the night time shots look a lot more serious. The model takes a much stronger approach to her look. Her posture is much more rigid and firm. Throughout the majority of the photos, she is looking directly into the camera, which makes a connection with the viewer, but in the night images, this makes it almost like she is confronting the viewer. This is mimicked with the change in the models change of hair and makeup. A bold red lipstick making her stand out, whilst her hair is tied back. This look is emphasized by the use of much stronger, harsher lighting. The light looks as though it is coming from straight on, possibly using a ring flash.

For each individual image, the models relation to the environment has been carefully considered. The photographer has used the locations perfectly in regards to how he positioned the model within them, in some of the images, making the model mimic natural lines within the landscape and interacting with it.

Fashion Constructed Image: Retake Task 2

To realise this project, i would need to be better prepared and better planned than in the previous set build.

My first priority would be to make sure that everything was ready for the beginning of the build. The wallpaper would need to be printed and purchased a week before, and made sure that we had enough to fit the space we were creating. Next, i would make sure that we had a door, and all the fittings to attach it.
In regards to the casting, i would make sure the model was completely free for the shoot day to avoid having to find a quick replacement. Also, i would go over with the model how we expect him to pose and get him into the mindset that we need for the shoot.

During the setbuild week, specific jobs and plans would need to be in place to make sure everything runs smoothly and gets done on time. By the end of the first day, i would want all of the walls to be built, with the door installed. On the second day, the wallpapering can be done and finished before the end of the day, leaving time to start to set up some initial lighting. This would give us all of the third day to complete the difficult task of arranging and correcting all the lighting. By the fourth day, we would be ready for the model to walk on set first thing, and begin shooting, with one of the group directing him in regards to poses that would previously have been researched. Leaving day five for an easy strike of the set.

Fashion Constructed Image: Retake Task

Fashion Constructed Image.

For our concept, we explored three completely different themes, Film Noir, Protest, and Pop Art. After further research of all three concepts, we chose to go with Pop Art. Are main reason for this choice was the deeper meanings behind a lot of pop art work , especially with Andy Warhols work. It was a major comment on anti-consumerism.

Out initial thoughts started with keeping the pop art theme traditional, and making our set in a 70’s style. The main themes we wanted to explore were the use of bright colours, repetition, and consumerism.

The way we want to show this is through a series of walls. We want to create walls out of products in 3 different, bold colours, with a passage leading through on which the model is meant to have blindly walked down. The walls and rooms need to look like they are bottomless, and that the model has only noticed he is on this path once the path has been taken away from him.

This is an example of one of the walls. We will need to photograph the products individually, and then arrange them to be printed off as wallpaper.

This is how the set will be laid out.

  

The character we are looking for needs to be something along the lines of this:

A classic 9-5 office worker, who is stuck in a cycle of working to earn and earning to spend. As it is a fashion shoot, they need to be styled better than this, but still in keeping with this theme.  Using grey/dark colours as a contrast to the bright background.

Our casting consisted of 9 different people, only a few of whom properly fit the character we were looking for.

Our chosen model we felt was perfect for the shoot was Brendan. We liked his general look, which was between a 9-5 worker, and a gleaming corporate poster boy.

The idea behind out model is that he is a normal guy who is caught up in the day to day life of a consumerist world. He is completely unaware of the fact that he is in this world until somebody literally takes the floor out from underneath him. For the shoot, we want him to be wearing a suit, but there are many different types of suit. As this is a fashion shoot, it needs to be of a slightly better cut than a normal office job suit, but not posh.

In the end we settled on a standard 2 button suit in grey.

To test the suit and see how suit and model stood up to some harsher lighting, i used my own ringflash to photograph the model in the suit. We were pleased with the results, and how the suit looked on the model.

The lighting we want to use needs to copy the clean cut, corporate look used by most of these big businesses, especially in their advertising. Due to the complexity of the set, a lot of lighting will be needed, and carefully placed in order to get an overall exact exposure setting.

This is the intended plan.  In total, 10 lights will need to be used for the shoot. As we liked the harsh glare of flashes, we want to use flash to light and highlight the model, whilst using continuous lighting to light the rest of the set. The flashes will be a different colour to the continuous lighting, so they will need to be adjusted.