We are beginning are new brief in college which is Textiles, and so I have been researching into Mary Katrantzou in connection to independent research.

 Greek print designer Mary Katrantzou, studied in Rhodes and later St Martins. Mary takes inspiration from Russian art movement Constructivism, which I have previously researched in my contextual studies brief.
She uses graphics to create optical illusion of over sized jewelry, Mary also plays with symmetry and graphics to enhance the female shape.

This here is one of my favourite pieces from her AW/2009 collection.

Another designer I researched into is textile designer Mary White, who was most iconic during the 1950's where her work influenced names such as Mary Quant and Laura Ashley.
Her designs where also featured in leading stores such as Liberty and Heals, her work also features in the V&A.
More recently her retro prints have been used for bikini's and mens shirts by Pigletchops.



This print is called Coppice, and is one of my favourite prints. There is a warm feel to the print, and is a classic design of the 50's, it would have been featured in many UK homes.



Here is my final photo for task 4, as promised! (if you have read my blog previous posts)

If you haven't my task was to choose a portrait painting depicting a model and recreate it using styling, photography and a model. I choose to recreate Jorge Monreals skull girl #3, and here is the final image!

My recreation using a model

Original Image - Jorge Monreal

BA Photography

After browsing through Elle, I picked up on a stylist Juhee C. After researching into Juhee I found he currently works as the stylist for Korean Elle, and his fashion stories are incredible!

This fashion story is by Juhee C, for Korean Elle.

On some of the images there doesn’t appear to be much lighting on the faces, which makes the clothing stand out and catches your attention.  
There are three models within the story; the main model appears to be a mother and the other two models which are the children. The styling also suggests that they are portraying children, as on some of the images they are dressed in uniform attire (shirts, skirts and knee high socks) their hair is also childlike, wiry and natural.
The mother one the second image has her hand over what appears to be her daughter’s mouth. This particular image is also quite mysterious, the background is black and the models are wearing black. This makes the models look like there lurking and coming from the background. This also suggests an evil step mother, and she could be feeding her children poison in the form of grapes and Clementine’s which Juhee has used as props. There is an image within the story where a fruit has been chopped in half and inside it is rotting, this could suggest the mother’s personality and her wicked side in which she treats her children, and that this is ultimately poising her children. It could also suggest the way in which the children feel that they are falling apart inside due to their mother’s treatment. Another reason that supports this is on the second image the daughter is wearing a jumper and seems to be in bed, her makeup is pale which makes her appear ill. In the left corner are some grapes hanging as if her mother is offering them to her, the model however looks frail and scared almost as if she’s looking to the camera for help. This is also suggested in the title; innocence. The children seem innocent like they need taking care of, they appear young and vulnerable.
There is also an image which is all three models together almost a family photo type image, however the mother is the main focus in the image and appears strong and assertive. The children however look frail and unhappy almost as if there being controlled.
The last image of the story also backs up the view of the evil mother it is almost as if she is towering over her, and watching her every move. In most of the images the mother has her hand on the child’s shoulder; this suggests that the mother does this to show that the child is hers and that she has control. This could link in with the fairytale Snow white in which the evil Queen that is infact her step mother tries to kill her, the Queen in the story also poisons an apple and cuts it in half. 

I think the target market, would be someone who has an imagination as you have to question the images to understand.

William Tempest Update

I have previously posted about William Tempest coming into my college to deliver a talk and well.... he's been!

The talk was very influencial and in some asepcts motivating, just seeing what he has acheived at such a young age in the fashion industry is incredible.  During the talk he spoke about his time with Jiles, and basically his story and experiences of going from a graduate to fashion designer.

Armed with him, where some of his beautiful dresses which we where able to analyse. We also had the honour of William talking us through his portfolio and the process of design to manufacture. This was interesting to hear as it gave you a greater insight into his job role.

All in all, it was a great experience and I left feeling honoured to have met him and very inspired!

My task was;

"Using your research from your contextual studies unit, you will select a painting depicting a model, that you will then have to recreate using styling and props. You must show the planning and experimentation in preparation for your shoot. The final print will need to be printed to A3. The aim is for you to create an image that is very similar to the original painting, as demonstrated in the images on the front of this brief. You will present your final image to the group"

And as noted in a previous post I choose to recreate Jorge Monreals Skull girl #3.

Today I collaborated with a photography student and styled my shoot for the recreation, here are some images from "behind the scenes"

 

 

 

 

 

I used face paint to create the effect on the body that was created on skull girl #3. I painted the face and the body unto the waist. In natural light this effect looked good, however once in the studio the lighting drowned the paint out and I had to do another layer making the stand out more. Photography also used blue, red, purple and green gels to achieve this effect. At first however we couldn't achieve the correct lighting on the photographs, to overcome this we added a blue gel, and set the lights further back.

Another problem I faced was getting the correct pose. Due to it being a paining the pose was quite un-natural and therefore it was difficult to position my model in the correct way.

Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of the shoot, I think everything worked well and this is due to planning. I had already experimented with backgrounds, poses, and makeup and so I was prepared if something did go wrong.

I will upload my final edited version once completed.