BEHIND CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION
SOPHIA LUND
CONTENTS AND KEY INSPIRATIONS
The Salem witch trials
1
Initial styling shoot
3
Victorian mourning attire
7
Second shoot
9
12
Selected images interpreted
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
The Salem witch trials are the initial and main inspiration for this project. Hysteria, chaos and fear marked the spread of the witch-trial pandemic from the European old world to the new world; pitting young people against the old and isolated. The events in Salem spread the arbitrary hysteria of witchhunts across North America - creating mental parallels to the COVID-19 period.
I became fascinated by the idea of ‘The Witch’ and the events in Salem through a school production of The Crucible, a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. The partially fictional story of the Salem witch trials was dramatic, horrifying and powerful holding my imagination for years until now, inspiring my final project.
1
2
INITIAL STYLING SHOOT
Chaos and Destruction: chaos caused by self preservation though sacrificing others; destruction of the community, families and lives. I created my witch to unite fear and destruction in a powerful figure. Black and black lace are very central to my creation and signify mourning across the western world.
3
Look 1 consists of a vintage lace top from my personal wardrobe. Styling it with black vintage hat and tulle veil.
4
Look 2 traps my model behind black lace. She wears my Dilara Findikoglu tweed hat paired with the previous top.
5
6
VICTORIAN MOURNING ATTIRE
‘ Following Victoria’s example, it became customary for families to go through elaborate rituals to commemorate their dead. Mourning clothes were a family’s outward display of their inner feelings. The rules for who wore what and for how long were complicated, and were outlined in popular journals or household manuals such as The Queen and Cassell’s - both very popular among Victorian housewives.’
‘ For deepest mourning clothes were to be black, symbolic of spiritual darkness. Dresses for deepest mourning were usually made of non-reflective parramatta silk or the cheaper bombazine - many of the widows in Dickens’ novels wore bombazine. Dresses were trimmed with crepe, a hard, scratchy silk with a peculiar crimped appearance produced by heat. The length of mourning depended on your relationship to the deceased.’
7
‘ The different periods of mourning dictated by society were expected to reflect your natural period of grief. Widows were expected to wear full mourning for two years. Everyone else presumably suffered less - for children mourning parents or vice versa the period of time was one year, for grandparents and siblings six months, for aunts and uncles two months, for great uncles and aunts six weeks and for first cousins four weeks.’ ‘ The largest shop catering to the trade was Jay’s of Regent Street. Opened in 1841 it had everything you could possibly need for every type of death, it was considered bad luck to wear your mourning clothes again after the specified period had ended… so you were constantly buying new ones!’ I am inspired by the shapes and silhouettes of the traditional Victorian look. Harvard Reference:
8
Unnamed (no date)Available at: https://www.tchevalier.com/ fallingangels/bckgrnd/mourning/ (Accessed: 1 March 2021).
SECOND SHOOT
The venue is Knightshayes Court, a Victorian mansion. I shot the photos on a Canon PowerShot G12 and edited them on Photoshop.
9
10
11
FINAL IMAGES
Here you can see my final look. I used a Dilara Findikoglu Victorian Tech Top, the perfect match for the lace enveloped skirt I created. Styling additions include an up-cycled hat paired with hand-made jewellery.
12
After shooting I inverted the final images to black and white. Using acetates of my screen print designs I added birds and lace as a collaged overlay on the final images.
13
14
Sophia Lund Exeter College May 2021
FMP