REFLECTION QUESTIONS - BODY AND FUNCTION, Fashion Communication, Photography & Moving Image

10/09/2019 - Tuesday, Do / Undo / Redo - Fashion Communication, Photography & Moving Image

How did you approach working in a team?

I've always liked working in teams to complete a project because it increases collaboration and allows brainstorming of ideas. Surely, this not only enhances the creativity and imagination of ideas, it is also enjoyable to have a 'helping hand' which allows us to receive both critiques as well as different opinions from different perspectives. As a result, more ideas are developed and productivity improves. I've never learnt much about fashion communication, nor have I ever thought I would be interested in the word "Fashion" itself at all since I wasn't too familiar with the background and the framework of how it works. However after we started working together and tried styling on the body, I found it quite enjoyable and satisfying at the same time. It was really interesting to see how the members of our group were able to collaborate and solve problems, thereby finishing off difficult tasks. We were distributed into different roles - photographer, styler, model. Because of this, we were each able to experience how and what it feels like to direct and lead a whole group to accomplish a task. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that everyone is unique and has different skills, backgrounds and experiences. Therefore, others in the team can also help see things from a different angle. This was clearly the main purpose and aim of today's task since it was called "Do/Undo/Redo" which gave us the opportunity to experiment with different materials, hence allowing us to try different methods as many times we want until we have a final design. A strength that I think must be mentioned from our teamwork is that we all have a clear mindset of our goal and what we should be doing during the process of styling our model. The photographer - has a clear perspective of the angles that look best for the design to stand out. The styler - makes sure that the fabric materials and garments being layered on top of the model matches together, creating a concept of “restriction” and “ escape”. Whereas the director - helps guide the members in explaining the task in detail, so that everyone has a clear understanding of how it should be carried and presented to an audience.

What strategies did you discover to combine ideas into experimental looks?

There were serval strategies that we used as a group to combine ideas into potential experimental looks. One of the strategies that we used was to first contemplate on the concept and storytelling of the "look" that we are trying to carry out to the audience. This involves the idea of analysing and developing our concept by first looking at the key words that were given to us from the beginning of the workshop. The keywords that we focused at were: Black/White, Pattern/Colour Blocking, and Oversized/fitted. Using these keywords, we first looked at the dark coloured theme. The word dark is often used to convey negativity, evil as well as being hidden or trapped from the world outside. Because of this, we used the black fabric and garments that was available, and wrapped it around the torso of the model - covering half of her face. This helps portray the meaning of being trapped and suffocated from the pressure of peers as well as social standards being brought up in society. This design is really similar to Ib Kamara's "Becoming Solange" Shot by Tim Walker as the colour scheme is also dark. In addition, the coverage of the model's face also helps reflect the resemblance.

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(Fashion Styling on the left, artist reference on the right)

We then carried on using this strategy to approach our next word which was "white". For this design, we wanted to create a concept which embeds a meaning of purity and innocence, as if there is a sense of tranquility. Therefore we decided to work with "movement" as this best portrays the motion of flowing and and fluidity.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj5LXSesd-w&feature=youtu.be (Movement of white theme design) - GIF

We were then given the task to create a 'hybrid' look by combing both dark and light fabrics and garments together to create contrast. We decided to create an abstract design by using the dark laced garments to cover the whole face while having the model's hands to create a "pulling motion" to convey a sense of desperation and urgency to escape. This whole designs symbolises the negativity that surrounds the pure and innocence of an individual. The dark garments represent the negativity which empowers the purity of the human being - white garments. The idea of twisting the material was also used to reinforce the abstractness of the whole photoshoot, very much like editorial styling.

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(Fashion Styling - Experimentation, Hybrid Concept - White & Black)

What have you learnt about styling?

I was never really fond in studying fashion and styling since there weren't many opportunities for me to approach it closely back in my hometown in Hong Kong. Therefore, I didn't really know much about what fashion communication is and how it works. However, after trying it myself today, I realised that theres so much more to it based on thinking and creativity. When it was my turn to style the model, I just couldn't get my hands on the right fabric materials and garments to create a design, my mind was almost blank and I had no idea what or where I could start with. On one hand, I felt so anxious and worried, but on the other hand it felt so surreal to be able to work on someone else's body. However, when I dropped off all my anxiousness and nervousness and I started piecing the garments and fabric materials together on the model, I was finally able to see a result and this made me felt so proud of myself - being able to style on a model for the first time, as well as being able to hear other ideas and opinions from my group members. Overall, it was a really enjoyable experience. I learnt that while styling, it is important to not just randomly piece all materials together, I had to select specific materials very carefully to match with what's already on the model's body, making sure that no other parts are dominating the other parts of the design. I received serval feedbacks from our tutor stating that our designs were impressive and stunning. However, the problem was that we often go overboard with the garments by creating more than one 'focus'. The tutor explained to us that because there are so many different compositions dominating each other, this loses the main 'focus' of the whole design. Hence, it loses its value and significance of the concept that we are trying to convey to an audience. In conclusion, I think that it is very important to make sure the selection of materials are just about right in order to create an outstanding piece of work. At the same time, the design must also be able to convey a meaning to the directed audience.

How did you use photography to transform your ideas?

I strongly believe that photography is a method of story telling, a way of expressing an individual's life, identity as well as the underlying meaning beneath the product of the work. Throughout the process of styling our model, we developed a concept revolving the themes of "restriction", "hidden" and "escape". As a photographer, I wanted to capture the developmental process of the model when first being restricted and hidden under the layers of cloth, fabric and garments. Then showing the gradual transformation of the model bursting out from her "cave" which cane been seen as shelter to hide her confidence. In simpler words, I wanted to show the "hardship of bursting from your own shell." By doing this, I mostly focused on the emotion and position of the model, making sure to capture the emotion of anxiety and fear in her eyes of not being able to be bold, to be seen as 'normal' in society. We chose to do the first few photoshoots of the black and white theme in a simple white background to create contrast and the simplicity of a 'women's emotions. The plain background behind the model represents the innocence of a 'women' and how women are seen in society. This contrasts with the dark fabrics and garments on the model's body, further portraying the struggle of women being able to open up themselves in society, to gain freedom and equal rights. As we develop further into the concept of 'bursting your shell', we worked with colour-blocking and patterned garments, it made sense that colour-blocking would match with the theme of happiness, faith and hope. Since a hint of colour can represent hope in an individual life. We experimented with different angles and positions as well as tried putting the camera behind a piece of laced material to create texture and a blurred effect.
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Without laced material behind camera vs with laced material behind camera

When we were more confident with styling our model, we decided to change our setting for our photoshoot. Since we wanted to portray a 'confident' women in our photoshoots, we decided to use cigarettes as props to create a more vintage vibe. We also asked the model to change her facial expressions to a more fierce appearance to help reinforce the 'strong', 'powerful' woman that was hidden beneath the darkness as shown from the previous photoshoots. As we continued with our styling tasks, I looked back at the photographs that we had taken from today's photoshoot and came to an image that I personally really liked due to the colour and choice of material in the design. Originally it was a photo merely showing the whole body from head to toe, but I wanted to capture the texture and colour as well as the placement of the materials, therefore I decided to crop the image and focus on the lower area of the model's face, thereby showing the texture and colour of the material used.
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Screen Shot 2019-09-19 at 11.39.04 PM.png Experimenting photoshoot in different settings - Colour Blocking & Pattern

Fitted theme - Texture and colour

I was particularly interested by one of the photoshoots by Campbell Addy and Ib Kamara. The photoshoot shows a model standing alone wearing fitted clothes and a mask. From this, I believe the artist is trying to suggest that the model is trying to hide himself from the world, using the mask as a shield or a protector from his fears. The artist also included phrases above the model to complete the editorial look. This inspired me to create a similar design by using a netted material to cover my face, but almost leaving it transparent so other parts of my face are still revealing. Again, I wanted to show the imperfections of 'women' in society and how they must hide themselves in order to survive in society. The images below show the similarities between my group's work and the artist's work.

What were successful strategies used by others?

While styling our models, I observed how other groups have approached this task. I had to say that every group had came out with amazing results. I was amazed by their teamwork as well as the smiles and laughter on their faces. It felt like everyone enjoyed today's workshop as much as I did. One of the strategies that we used from others was to stay positive with whatever we were trying to do. Surely, we had a few disagreements among our group members due to different perceptions and ideas. However we managed to come up with designs that all of us were proud of. This may seem like a simple strategy, however to me, I belive that having a positive attitude while completing a task is important for better communication with our group members as well as having a distributed ideas for everyone to discuss. Another strategy that we took from other groups was using what's already on the model and working with it by adding the fabric and extra garments that we brought in. For example, one of our group members was already wearing dark clothes in the beginning, therefore we kept her original clothes on and used our dark fabric and garments to create the reset of the design. Overall, I felt that today's project was a good experience for me to learn more about fashion communication and directing. I had fun styling and directing the model, I also discovered a new perspective in what it feels like to be a model. However, I still don't think that fashion communication is the right pathway for me as I was never interested in fashion in anyway in terms of designing or styling a model. Surely, I found it interesting when looking at fashion editorials and magazines; however, I just couldn't picture myself doing fashion communication or even fashion designing for my future studies. I guess I'm taking thiss as a valuable experience for me to look back to. Even though I knew fashion isn't the right pathway for me, I felt very comfortable when I was filming and taking photos of the model. When I held the camera, it just feels 'right' in my hands - there was both excitement and passion which made me realise that I might want to do something related to filming. Hence, I am really excited for the Fine Art 4D project.

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