STAY SAFE STAY STYLISH
Amelia Cundill Fa4012 Visual Research & Photography
INTRODUCTION TO STAY SAFE STAY STYLISH The COVID 19 crisis, as you already know, certainty feels unpredictable; leaving the world in a state of agitation and affliction. Never has the world experienced such a fast-moving health crisis circulating across the world placing a worrying strain on not only on health care facilities but also the economy. Yet, the fashion industry has been stronger than ever adapting and innovating to produce garments and content during the pandemic. Richard Quinn Fall/ Winter 2020
MUKZIN X HARBIN AW2020
Richard Quinn Fall/ Winter 2020
Marine Serre Fall/ Winter 2020
Victor Virgile Fall/ Winter 2020
Never would I have thought that the Government's actions would have affected a consumers perception to who we dress for; whether we dress up or dress down during lockdown. The merge between comfort, work and active wear have become increasingly close as working from home becomes the new normal. Yet, this has not prevented designers from creating extravagant collections. This as resulted with a whopping 36% rise in purchases of loungewear such as track suit bottoms. Now, as face masks are required in the UK, designers have jumped to the chance to create their own face masks in order to still create cash flow.
Marine Serre Fall/ Winter 2020
Loewe SS2020 Escape Nymphs During this module, I have looked at how designers have adapted and made a runway collection during the pandemic to create the new norm, types of face masks which have become a instant trend in fashion, collage artists and how their collage technique can submerge into COVID type collages and even connections between contemporary and historical touch points.
I am obsessed with the pastel colours and how they drape over the models bodies loosely.
LONDON FASHION WEEK RESEARCH DURING COVID
With fashion shows being cancelled or being moved online, I have researched into how designers have adapted to the pandemic in order to still produce a fashion show for London Fashion Week. My favorite collection has to be Burberry as I love how they included nature from the forest and live music to create an exciting, modern and evolving collection. I love the boldness of the blue’s and oranges whilst still paying homage to their original designs.
FASHION MASK RESEARCH
Research for mask
I have researched into not only fashion designers masks but also celebrities and artists to how they have experimented with the pandemic linking to the brief of Stay Safe Stay Stylish.
M A S K E X P E R I M E N T
The use of the flowers was inspired by Han Cao. She embryoid's flowers onto old portraits. Because I am unable to sew, I adapted it and created a modern twist. My aim was to get the connotation across that it is the natural and the new normal to wear a mask.
I wish I experimented more with a variety of recycled materials and colours in order to reflect the need and impact of wearing a mask. Through researching a variety of designers who have made masks, I have discovered how a mask can be a political, social, economical and expressive form of fashion.
Mask collage
I wanted to create a juxtaposition between wearing a mask and creating a false reality to how people dispose masks and they treat the environment merged with glamour and fashion.
As masks are a necessity by the government and are becoming more of a trend in fashion than ever, I have created some mask designs in which reflect recycling and nature. My aim was to create a variety of mask designs that reflect how rubbish can affect the environment and people around us through carbon dioxide . I wish I experimented further with my masks to create a more extravagant meaning making it more unique with a variety of materials.
My objective from the brief was to merge nature and fashion with heath like SS2020 did when fashion runways where either cancelled or moved online. I primarily researched into brands such as colling Strada and Bora Asku to how they made their masks to fit the current trend of nature and pandemics.
Fast Fashion Fast fashion can be traced back to the early 1990’s when Zara opened their first store in New York, can be defined as low priced and mass consumed in which they products in a fast turnaround in order to reach maximum demand. Fast fashion brands such as Zara, Miss Guided, Topshop and H&M promote wear once strategy then buy another garment. Through this model, I was inspired to create an image in which creates awareness of throwing away clothes and the impact on not only the environment but also the workers who are employed by the business to create the garments. One thing that inspired me to research and create a collage was the 2013 The fast fashion turnaround impacts factory in Bangladesh collapsing killing 1,138 and injuring 2,500 people workers who live in low income countries and dangerous environments. Fast fashion has also impacted the They are open to dangerous chemicals through the clothing and machinery. As environment as over 1.2 billion tons of a result over 235 million items of carbon emissions are produced by the clothing are sent to land fills. This has global fashion industry and even more during lockdown. Furthermore, 500,000 inspired me to create awareness of the tons of microfibers are entering the ocean issue. each year through consumers washing clothes damaging the environment. Brands, who are producing low income countries are exploiting their workers paying them below minimum wage in the UK meaning children and adults have little to eat and have to work in dangerous working environments like the Bangladesh factory.
FAST FASHION COLLAGE EXPERIMENT I have learnt how much fast fashion has impacted the world and how even buying one item can not only effect the workers but also the environment.
I was also inspired by the facts about plastic from clothing. Through buying and washing clothing it releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year. I have represented this through the use of plastic bags and bottles floating around polluting their country.
I wish I created a larger pile of clothing as there is a lot of space closer to the top of the collage
My aim during this experiment was to create awareness during the lockdown no to overspend on clothing that is not needed. I was highly inspired by the 2013 Bangladesh factory collapsing killing 1,138 and injuring 2,500 people. I have reflected this through the large pile of clothing I have gathered from mixed media and black and white images of children and adults in poverty on the top.
SELF- PORTRAIT RESEARCH The famous self-portrait by French realist Gustave Courbet called ‘The Desperate Man’. The painting was created between 1844 and 1845 with aims to achieve an intensity which is rarely witnessed in the history of art. I love how he is staring at the viewer with wide eyes as if he is stressed of anxious with his hands tearing through his hair. It is like the artist was inspired by his emotions and past experiences to create such a piece. The dark undertones of the painting also reflects the deep hole of anxiousness the artist fell into making it a raw and honest painting. ‘Self- Portrait’ by Andy Warhol sold for $27.5 million in 2011. The paintings were created 1986 with acrylic paint and screen print work. I love how the contrast between the primary colors clash against the colored background. The pop art painting juxtaposes with the image of Warhol as he is staring intently at the consumer with both messy hair on the right and a thinking pose on the right. Both portraits of Warhol convey very serious but the colors change it to a positive joyful painting. This self portrait by artist Frida Kahlo was the most famous artist to come out of Mexico. The painting called ‘Self- Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’ created in 1940. I love how she has painted with a symbolic reference to her life giving an insight to her life personally. During her lifetime, Kahlo experienced many painful experiences including a bus accident, many affairs and several miscarriages. The thorn around her neck is a symbolic reference of the pain she had endured through the use of the graphic blood on her neck. The black cat sat on her right shoulder is a symbolic reference to the bad look she has endured which has brought heavy suffering and pain. The dead black hummingbird hanging from her neck, which is typically colorful, expresses how she feels lifeless. ‘Self Portrait in the Green Bugatti’ by Tamara De Lempicka created the piece for the front cover of Die Dame. It was an issue celebrating female independence and power. The portrait shows the artist driving an expensive race car staring with content displaying wealth, freedom and inaccessibility. I love how she has only captured a certain area of the car in detail making it more personal and presents her wealth far more from a glance.
FIRST SOCIALLY DISTANCED PHOTOSHOOT During this photoshoot, I was highly influenced by Billie Eilish’s music video for Bad Guy with the ink protruding from her eyes. As a replacement, I used glitter with minimal make up to represent more of a natural look. I was also inspired by Andy Warhol with how expressive his self-portraits are.
This experience fit in with the concept of the brief as not only was it socially distanced but also I wanted to create a symbolic reference to how glamour and emotions can merge together during the pandemic to create something surreal. The first time I tried this experiment, I used different glitter. I changed it as it was reflecting off the camera resulting the images with no glitter which was disappointing.
I have learnt from this experience that glitter is extremely hard to stop from dripping. As a result, the model had to tilt her head to one side in order to prevent it from running. In the future, I am going to experiment with different glitter colours and position it in different places to see what affect they make. I would like to experiment with bolder colours instead of sticking with neutral colours. Something I would change with this shoot is the positioning of the model. I wish I got her to do do more positions as a a lot of the portraits are quite similar.
SECOND SOCIALLY DISTANCED The mesh dress from the Ivy PHOTOSHOOT Park collection was a perfect During my second photoshoot, I experimented with angels in order for the models face to be the main attraction. I was highly influenced by French realist Gustave Courbet as I love how expressive his portraits are and how he is continuously staring at the camera to create various connotations of the painting.
choice for the shoot as it not only expresses my models personality but also it allowed me to experiment placing the mesh over her face in order to create a unique expressive image. My aim of this photoshoot was to not only to get the consumer to focus on the models face but also to promote the garment. I have learnt from this experience that it is hard to think of positions to create the shots interesting to look at. Furthermore, I have also learn to take more outfit choices instead of shooting with one garment. I would have liked to experiment with filters and a range of colours for the background to create more of an Andy Warhol piece of work.
MAREN ESDAR RESEARCH Maren Esdar, who is a surrealist collage artist has inspired me to create my own work in her style. She I love how she combines diversity, complexity primarily focuses her work around and richness whilst being inspired by nature to fashion collages whilst working for create her fashion collages. It is evident to major publications such as Vogue, create her collages she uses nature, objects, Esquire and New York Times. She materials, accessories and images from combines the cutting and pasting magazines which I treid to replicate in my own method with digital rendering to experiment. I was highly inspired by her layout create her unique illustrations. and layering of her materials in order to create a surreal image. I also love how Esdar considers art to be a way of communication both physically and mentally expressing moods. I love how Maren Esdar has experimented with the human features and used day to day objects making it more appealing to look at. The elegance and fashionable products used to create her illustrations reflect clearly the major publications she works with to promote products in magazines.
MAREN ESDAR EXPERIMENT During this experiment, I wanted to merge Maren Esdar’s collage technique with nature which was primarily Resort 2021’s trend. My aim was to create a surreal image with disproportioned images. My other inspiration was Annegret Soltau who is a surreal collage artist who has an experimental approach to art. She challenges the conventional notions of the representation of people through photography and collage as a recycling process. AS she uses left over parts from her previous pieces of work, I wanted to see if I could also resulting in a mixed media collaged dress.
This experiment has taught me not to worry about making mistakes and that it is okay for it to be messy and experimental. I wish I added more nature materials in order to create more of a ecofriendly inspired dress.
Back cover and image
A COLLAGE INSPIRED BY ERNESTO ARTILLO