Question
To what extent does the aesthetic ‘style’ of women’s lingerie photography reflect the audience and context of the contemporary publications it’s featured within?
I chose this research question as women’s lingerie is a great interest of mine. The photography of it, how it’s presented in publications, magazines and otherwise, and also the way that it makes you feel when you’ve got something special on. For the creative report brief, two lingerie related people were interviewed, one lingerie collector and model, another a lingerie designer and maker. Both had a different reason for doing what they do and what interests them within this field, but it was really fascinating to interview them and look through their instagram and tumblr accounts at all the beautiful photographs. I really ejoyed interviewing these people and producing the publication to showcase these interviews, so I thought why not combine my love of both lingerie and editorial design into one seamless project. I was torn between lingerie and architecture within publications, however I chose lingerie as I thought the photography would have more meaning behind it, and more depth for the research. There are many different routes that can be gone down for this research question, such as looking at how the aesthetic of lingerie photography differs across different types of publications such as clothing catelogs, zines, magazine adverts, and more graphic magazines such as Playboy. I could also look at how the audience and target audience effects the kind of imagery that is shown in different publications, for example a clothing catelog would have very different
lingerie photography than Playboy, for obvious reasons. I could branch out and look at how swimwear photography differs from lingerie photography in specific publications, and why this is, as women walk around in skimpy swimwear on beaches and this is seen as acceptable, however if they walked out in their underwear it would be unusual and even frowned upon, although they’re basically the same thing. It could also be looked at how women’s lingerie photography differs from printed publications to digital magazines, and whether the photographs in printed publications are more toned down due to audience and being ‘on the street’. A more specific area of research could be to look at how women’s lingerie photography differs from magazine advertisements to photography based zines, and how this impacts on the way that women are perceived by the reader. All of these are options for this research question to expand down, however a bit of ground research should probably be done to decide which options have the most depth and which interest me the most to continue with.
Subjects Lingerie vs swimwear photography Impact photography has on the overall ‘feel’ of a publication. The publics view on lingerie photography and ‘bearing too much skin’ in a variety of publications. Different purposes of lingerie photography Digital magazines use of lingerie photography
Quotes “We provide pictures of girls in the same way we provide pictures of cool cars. It is ornamental. Women’s magazines do the same thing.” Alex Bilmes talking about women in men’s magazines “Underwear connotes the state immediately prior to nudity, so if someone is wearing underwear, that person is essentially saying ‘Look at me I’m almost nude.’ Swimsuits connote swimming at the beach or at a pool. The wearer is saying ‘It’s so hot and I just went swimming or might sunbathe later and I’m too lazy to change.’” Will Wister “The advertisements featuring Argentinian-born model and presenter Belén Rodríguez will be taken down after residents complained that they were jeopardizing road safety in central Milan.” Sara Malm “The photography of young women that I was used to seeing in fashion magazines seemed to adhere to the nebulous standards of What Men Want” Tavi Gevinson “Imagery and what the designer does with it have an enormous impact on a publication’s feel.” Cath Caldwell & Yolanda Zappaterra
Books & Websites Collins, P. (2015) Babe. London: Prestel Publishing Ltd Sinofzik, A., Klanten, R. and Gestalten (2015) The Still Life: In Product Presentation and Editorial Design. Berlin: Gestalten Sterling, S., Soutter, L., Rice, S., Wat, K. (2008) Role Models: Feminine Identity in Contemporary American Photography. London: Scala Publishers Limited Pultz, J. (1995) Photography and The Body. Great Britain: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd Aldridge, M. (2013) I Only Want You to Love Me. United States of America: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
i-D VICE article “The zines you need to know about now” - https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/ the-zines-you-need-to-know-about-now Daily Mail article about lingerie billboards distracting drivers - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ news/article-2874875/Driven-distraction-Milan-police-remove-giant-lingerie-advertising-billboards-threat-motorists-safety.html Conversion XL article “First impressions matter: the importance of great visual design” - http:// conversionxl.com/first-impressions-matter-theimportance-of-great-visual-design/ Article on heart rate when looking at compassionate based images - http://www.compassionatemind.co.uk/viewpoints/publications/A_pilot_ exploration_of_heart_rate_variability.pdf How Millenials and Instagram are changing Advertising - http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/229832/how-millennials-and-instagram-are-changing-adverti.html
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