Collaborating with NUA Fashion Students (Part I)
The brief for the end of year project for the first-year Fashion students at NUA consisted of creating a collaboration between the work of a design house and that of a high-street brand, and creating a garment representing this. I began with the work of Jess Long, who had chosen to combine the work of 'quirky chic' designer label Miu Miu with the on-trend high street store River Island. Taking inspiration from clowns and the circus, Jess's dress takes elements of many of the recent summer trends; from bold polka-dots to heavily-contrasting colours, to a wide, ruffled collar, the dress is almost surreal in its nature. The material used to create the garment adds a softness to the photograph as a whole, despite the harsh blacks of the polkadots or the conflicting green and purple tones, and we chose to use soft lighting in the image both from the front and behind to add to this.
Next was the work of Georgie Gilbert. Georgie's collaboration was between Mary katrantzou, who uses household objects as inspiration for her vibrant print designs, and Whistles, a high street store that caters for women seeking a feminine silhouette and classic cuts. Georgie took inspiration from the concept of afternoon tea and the structure of a teacup, and used these elements to create a soft and feminine floral dress that really compliments the wearer. For this photograph we used the soft, pastel colours in the dress and projected them onto the background to create a gradient that adds a dream-like nature to the image as a whole.
Finally, we shot a simple test shot for designer Kristen Loveday. Kristen's project was based on a collaboration between a designer called Sybilla and the high street brand Coast, and she took inspiration from the work of painter Jack Vettriano. The work of Vettriano is filled with elegance, just as Kristen's dress is, but also contains an element of seduction. The deep v of the back reflects this seduction, as does the romantic and feminine drape of the material used. Kristen and I are currently in the process of setting up a location shoot to show off the retro vibe of the dress, and as such I should have more work to share on this blog very soon.
