Monday, 21 November 2011

Classic Vintage photshoot


I am particularly fascinated by the classical fashion designers Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent and the old fashioned, vintage clothing and styling in the photography. For the next shoot I want to focus on vintage clothing and styling in an appropriate retro location. I want to create a set of images similar to those of Chanel and YSL. These images also are a modern take on similar styling and mood created through the use of photography. 

Freelance styling and student styling where there is no income or money coming in can be a difficult , especially when appropriate clothing needs to be sourced and used for a shoot. In this case I wanted a particular style of vintage clothing to emanate the classic, iconic fashion imagery which a modern twist and modern styling. As I could not buy any vintage clothing and then take it back, a friend also studying fashion promotion lent me a huge selection of vintage clothing which sparked off ideas for future shoots on recycled clothing and eco-friendly fashion.
        For this shoot, I wanted to use female Asian models they have a particular look that would work well together and with the clothing.
       I asked the models ( who are also studying fashion promotion and styling)  to bring a few items of their own which I knew were vintage as well as some key accessories to add extra depth to the styling. The first model had done modelling before and had a vintage skirt which I asked her to bring teaming it with a vintage patterned blouse. I added the red bowler hat, lace gloves and orange tights to give the look a quirky modern take on classical vintage styling.
      I styled the second model in a black vintage shift dress, black opaque tights, her own Burberry trench coat and black ‘drivers’ hat. I placed a string of modern sparkly beads around her neck, layering them up again to add modern dimension to a classic outfit.
     The third model had the most modern take on the concept. I placed her in a black lacy, vintage style dress, feather earrings, vintage style pearls and black onyx ring.
       All of the models wore their own black, shiny heels to give the outfits an ultra feminine feel, adding a touch of sophisticated glamour.

I did the models make-up with nude faces, dark lined eyes and bright, red painted lips for the Hollywood, movie star, vintage make-up look!
 
The location originally was to be in the Bacchus Bar- a bar underneath a lovely old hotel on New Street which is decorated incorporating different historical themes. One of them was a Egyptian room, but the majority of the bar was medieval themed which I thought would bring an interesting vintage themed dynamic to the images. However, the photographer changed the location to an outside one to bring a different element and aesthetic to the shoot.
    We ended up carrying out the shoot in a street opposite which had lovely old fashioned brick work and shop fronts, replicating a Victorian shopping street. The shoot took place at night so that the dark contrasting with the orange glow from the shop windows gave a really nice ‘wintry’ feel that complimented the styling.
      The girls kept the same outfits on with no changes, although occasionally one of the models took off her Burberry trench and used that as a stylistic tool and prop as did the red clutch bag which the models experimented with holding during the shoot.
      The girls were shot in different parts of the street using different aspects of it as a prop to inform their poses and stances. These included lamp-posts, bollards, shop front windows and the curbs of the street.  They were shot individually to showcase the different outfits and individual styling and then together for some impact shots. The models could bounce off each other, creating poses which again gave the vintage shoot a modern day feel. Shooting the three models together made for an intriguing dimension to the shoot and some interesting shapes and angles of their bodies were formed which could be something to experiment with and expand upon in a future shoot. 



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