Appraisel

With my final images, I decided to express the theme of ‘waste’ through Fashion. 

To do this, I looked into how much waste the fashion industry itself produces. - Fashion designers seem to make clothes today to last for a short period of time. New lines of clothing are produced regularly. – Mainly known as the ‘spring/summer’ and ‘autumn/winter’ collections, as well as mid-collections often in between. 

These clothes are what’s seen to be ‘fashion’ and are therefore desired and wanted. Anything made and published before this, i.e. the year before, are considered ‘old’ and ‘out’ of fashion, which makes them unwanted and discarded of. With this, the fashion industry produces more than one million tonnes of textile waste every year. This is without even considering our own garment waste by following this fashion system. – Us as consumers, play to their system and keep buying and discarding of just as many clothes. 

I feel that, we, as consumers, act like the fashion industry’s mannequin, which, just like the clothes, has a use by date. 

For this, I portrayed my model as a mannequin doll thrown out into the rubbish. - I drew lines on my models skin to show the joints of a doll, enabling movement, with old shopping bags surrounding her within a dark, dingy, lonely alleyway. I used doll-like make up, to give her a little identity and connect to us as consumers, playing to the industry’s throw away system. – Half human, half doll. 

To emphasize this, I made my model give a blank expression and lifeless eyes. 

A lot of my inspiration came from photographers such as; David LaChapelle

Due to the way he incorporates models and fashion poses with literal waste. The models somehow look as if they're meant to be in that location. Or, on the contrary, they are dolls which have simply been abandoned and forgotten.

 Tim walker

With the way he literally turns his models into dolls. This is very dramatic, but I like the mechanical poses and the lifeless, non-human look.

 and Tom Hunter.

With this sense of abandonment and sense of uselessness, whilst remaining in an environment we all recognize.

My photos;

Prints;

(Re-Print)

 I printed my images a little dark due to the theme and setting of my photographs. 

I personally, am really pleased with my images and I feel they represent my idea well.
I think these photos would work well in a newspaper,  as they are reflecting on the waste problem issues of fashion, not the glamour side to fashion, like magazines do. 

Shoot 3 & 4 incl. Prints

With this shoot, I wanted to broaden the Mannequin idea I started in the first shoot. 

Although I enjoyed dressing my model up in rubbish whilst remaining 'fashionable', I thought I may get carried away with the fun side to it. I felt that the mannequin idea had much more depth and meaning behind it.

With these shoots, I wanted to show just how much waste the Fashion Industry produces.
The fashion industry purposely designs clothes to last a certain period of time, before being discarded of and a new collection brought in.
The clothes are designed and produced in 'seasons' every year, and us as consumers keep buying and discarding of 'fashion', producing just as much waste as the industry. - We are like the industry's mannequins.

1.2 million tons of clothing went to landfill in 2005 in the UK alone. (DEFRA 2007) 
- http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com/the-issues/energy-and-waste

It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year. (www.wasteonline.org.uk)

Most of the waste produced in the UK ends up in landfill sites, which poses a threat to local ground water supplies. Every time it rains, water drains through all the rubbish and picks up chemical and hazardous materials. This includes chemicals used in clothing and textiles such as dyes and bleaches. 

- http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com/the-issues/energy-and-waste

Majority of textile waste comes from household sources. Average lifetime of any clothing is deemed to be for about 3 years, after which, they are thrown away as old clothes. Sometimes even 'not so worn garments' are also discarded as they become unfashionable, or undesirable.

- http://www.textilesindepth.com/index.php?page=facts-textile-waste

I personally really like the trolley images. I feel that they are stronger than my other images and really give across my idea - That we, as consumers act like the Fashion Industry's mannequins.
Just like the clothes, get used and thrown away once they've had their time.

My chosen Finals;


I spent a lot of time trying to print these images. I wanted them to be dark but not dull, whilst trying to not lose the mannequin within the image. I wanted her to stand out and grab attention.

I think these are the strongest images from my contact sheets, but due to being all from the same shoot, i think they might look stronger with two different images perhaps inbetween them. This would break them up a bit and add more variety, probably making them come across stronger and more in depth.

If I was to pick two images to go with these, I would pick my next two favourite and strongest images;

 I like this image because even though she comes across like a lifeless doll, she has a helpless sense to her. The way her arm is twisted out makes her look literally thrown out and broken.

I like this image because it looks like she has also been thrown down without a care. The way the bin is toppled over with the bags spilling out adds to this.
If i was to use this image i would re-print it. I would make it darker and adjust the magenta and yellow. This would able me to match her skin tone to the other images.

Research; Make-up Artist - Rehana

 Through being a member on 'Model Mayhem', I came across this make-up artist who is looking to expand her portfolio, so is willing to collaborate with people on a TF basis.

 Her work consists of a lot of smokey eyed effects, which is what we are looking for. 

Research; Tom Hunter

Although these image are not necessarily about fashion or dolls like Tim Walker, I found this work by Tom Hunter just as inspiring.

Particularly with these images below, I really liked this sense of abandonment and uselessness. Although it is clearly people within the photos instead of a doll-like figure, they still carry this notion of being discarded of, like they no longer have a purpose.

I felt this would work well and relate to my project.

With this image below, I liked the effect of the dark lighting which surrounds the edge of the photograph, whilst emphasising the main focus point, the models, with highlights.

With my images, I would not want the shadows to be as dark as this, because I want to show all of the surroundings of my discarded mannequin.

Research; Tim Walker

Due to dressing and styling my model as a mannequin, I found Tim Walker's work really inspiring. - 

In terms of playing with fantasy in a real life environment and the pose of the model.

With these images, I like how she clearly still looks human but is in a doll world. - The expression and pose for example.

With this, the image as a whole seems a bit creepy and unnatural. 

I thought this would help play on m idea of the fact that we, as consumers, play to the Fashion Industry's system. They use us like their mannequins.

These images are more dramatic with the doll look, but i really like the blank expressions and lifeless poses. It really emphasises that she can only move with someone else's assistance and control.

 With this image, I wanted to play around with the style of the makeup and the marks on her arms and legs to look like the joints enabling her to move.

Workshop; Interior Lighting

With this workshop, we built a temporary corner, which we wanted to look like a room, and lit it to practice our fashion set build idea of a dominant female, with a timid male.

We used this to diffuse the light and darken the corner.

For this we practiced using the H1D, as we will use on the fashion project. 

We used these to diffuse the light on the female. The top one diffused light from underneath the eyes to the thigh. We wanted the eyes and front leg to be highlighted to emphasise this idea of a female leaving the man.

The first shot highlighted too much of the brightly coloured leggings, so we added another gobo to lengthen the shadow to mid-shin.

1st Result;

2nd Result;

Research; Samples for Set Design

We decided that the other wall would be a plain, smooth painted wall. We thought a blue would work well, as it's a boys bedroom and thought maybe a dark blue to emphasize the darkness of the forest, and also this dark, seductive scene.

If we were to paint on the textured wallpaper, we need to decide what colours to use and how we're going to paint the texture. The favourite texture was the vertical, bark like effect.

I found this lining paper in 'Homebase'. I've been told there are cheaper versions available elsewhere, but this will be useful for us to use.

We can use this under the paint, as it's cheaper than canvas and will give us a smooth effect.

We could also use this under the wallpaper as it will look seamless and it will also be easier to discard of after the project.

Examples of various sizes and styles of skirting boards.

Research; Make-up Artists Portfolio - Louise Ingham

Research; Boys Clothing

For 'Red's clothing, I looked at high street clothes from places like, 'Burtons'  and 'Topman'.

I wanted 'Red's clothes to be in contrast with the middle class, sophisticated 'Wolf'. 

I started to look at jeans because they are the most popular and versatile piece of clothing going for all ages.

I then looked at t-shirts so he looks more casual and younger in age.

These t-shirts i found plays on the attention and humour both the shirt and the person receive. 

These outfits from 'Topman' look quite smart but casual. Showing the growth from boy to man, as guys tend to smarten up and be more fashionable as they approach adulthood.

I was looking at chinos as they are in fashion right now, with the casual t-shirts.

I looked at the mickey mouse shirt to play on the fact he's growing from a child, but i really like the shirt with the target sign on it. This really emphasizes this idea of the 'wolf' predator going after her prey, 'Red'.