Chelsea Clements
Final Major Project
portfolio
Showing Off
www.chelseaclements.com
Concept
SHOWING OFF is motivated by personal experience, as I have had to find other coping mechanisms to deal with my own self-confidence issues. Being blonde, I have grown up being constantly labelled a ‘bimbo’ by the guys at school, despite having been a high achiever. I was bullied for developing boobs later than other girls, and for getting my period earlier. Even though I knew these physical issues were beyond my control. the bullying had a negative effect on my mental and physical health. This was compounded by a lack of resources that sent a message that not everyone had to look like they were out of a fancy magazine.
This fashion photography project is about creating images of semi-naked everyday women showing off their bodies confidently. The revealing, modern, minimalist styling aims to create images that challenge the fashion industry’s commercialised view of the body beautiful, in order to empower girls to open up about their bodies, to feel better about their own self-image and to ease the pressure they feel about having to have an ‘ideal’ body.
By promoting positive imagery surrounding normal bodily functions like menstrual blood and sweat, SHOWING OFF aims to encourage girls to develop more realistic and diverse perspectives of their bodies. It will reach out by breaking down preconceived notions of ‘perfectness’, revealing the varied reality of different bodies. This is aimed at breaking down patterns of self-denigration in teenage girls.
SHOWING OFF tries to prove the point that ‘you are normal’ and probably just the same as other girls who are also afraid of revealing their true selves. It proves that there is nothing to hide and nothing to lose by exposing yourself. Being female isn’t easy, but it also doesn’t have to be a continual struggle. By looking at these powerful images, deliberately styled to be challenging and honest, girls will be able to recognise themselves. SHOWING OFF asserts that you don’t need to be the skinniest, the loudest, the most popular, because there are other more meaningful ways to achieve great things. By being allowed creative freedom and freedom of expression, designing this publication has empowered me to express myself and confront these difficult issues. Now I want to do the same for other girls.
“Girls are considerably more worried about what others might think of how they look or their clothes, compared with boys (64% vs 50% respectively). Concerns about appearance peak amongst teenage girls (aged 13-15), with nearly seven in ten (68%) are worried about the opinions of others, whilst concerns tend to fade away for boys of the same age (48%)”
With the pressures from school being something that naturally may always be there, things like social media, which young girls are increasingly active on, with inappropriate images and articles are extremely easy to find online creating the ‘perfect’ fantasy body image, promoting teenage girls to diet early and push up their boobs, shave their intimate areas, before they know the effects of doing so. “92% of teen girls would like to change something about the way they look, with body weight ranking the highest.” (Dove campaign)
competetor Tavi Gevinson
Tavi Gevinson is an American writer, magazine editor, actress, and singer. She came to public attention at the age of 12, due to her fashion blog Style Rookie. By the age of 15, she had shifted her focus to pop culture and feminist discussion.
“When the things you come to see as beautiful are interesting, nuanced or weird, then it becomes a lot easier to appreciate those things in yourself. I’ve come to realise that I don’t have to be perfect or pretty.”
Opportunities Weaknesses
Strenghts Threats
Having started her own fashion blog at 13 Tavi is one of the most well known fashion blogger and at the age of 13 she sat front row at NY Fashion week. Tavi provides an innovative take on everything from Fashion to tech, music and beauty on her online magazine which received one million views within it’s first five days.
With a lot of upcoming Art Directors and Photographers creating content on the subject of Feminism, Tavi’s may need to step up her game in a creative way as her older work might come across as ‘boring’ in comparison to new, upcoming artists.
Tavi has a lot of connections in all areas of social media; this opens up opportunities to everything from Music to film.
Tavi may of perhaps come into the limelight at too young of an age. Being 11 she was facing all of the body image topics at that time, whereas when you’re older you have more time to reflect on your youth.
Petra Collins
Petra Collins (born December 21, 1992 is a Canadian portraiture photographer, fashion photographer and fashion designer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
“It’s a time in your life when you’re form- ing who you are as a person and so many things are happening to you. It’s really scary and hectic. For me it’s something very interesting to capture; there are endless possibilities. There’s always pressure on teenage girls that I think has reached another extreme today”
Opportunities Weaknesses
Strenghts Threats
Petra Collins has a huge audience, and a lot of contacts to use to promote her photography. She is a photographer so there is no extra costs involved to do with a Photographer and/or Art Director
There are a lot of emerging creatives who are specalising in femenism, this may take some of Petra’s followers.
Won ‘Best photography book of 2015’ Via NYTimes. This opens up opportunities to release a second book to this, and new books. Petra has a lot of connections to collaborate with and create footage before competition
Petra’s work is quite broad, and although her direction is Femenism, she can have a very biast message which may offend many people. As she is a known photographer, she doesn’t really get much recignition for Art Direction although many of the idea’s may be her own.
Customer Analysis
People still buy books as opposed to using kindles or going online to read magazines, as it’s more tangible product. The more shared beliefs and attitudes surrounding one subject aids a stronger interest behind it, therefore engaging with the consumer becomes something they are more interested. More people are an average size 16 in the UK than any other size, therefore relating to topics on plus size, and that everyone, whatever shape or size is normal. Lots of talk around body image for both women and men recently with Barbie changing.
Internet is constantly on the rise, and is a free/ affordable way to get your name out. Engaging with new technology such as Snapchat and Instagram, which appeals to the same, young, target market and interacts with them. Distributing goods quickly is almost expected with the speed of technology, having a good distributor, or attending lots of events where you can sell product to relevant consumers/sell more in bulk.
Laws in different countries apply regarding nudity, this may sacrifice where it can be sold, if put online it will be harder to control.
social
Technological
Political
Enviroment economical
Nudity- could not be published in other countries with different cultures Different views. Different cultures have different laws on equal rights, which is something that the publication is trying to combat, so anything to do with these would be going opposite to the views presented in the publication. UK and EU may be separating making it a lot more restricting to extend views across the whole EU.
Limited edition – Will be more expensive to make therefore being more economical and using less waste paper. About 74% of the population in the UK aged 16 to 24 are employed; therefore they are the most likely candidates who receive a disposable income.
Legal
Paper is a widely recycled product and therefore is very economical. Books are tended to be kept and passed down to younger generations, so could be seen as a classic piece of clothing that doesn’t get chucked in land fill when finished with.
Opportunities Weaknesses
Strenghts Threats
Applies to a specific audience, and although the product will be at a pricier end, only interested consumers would purchase the product, so they should be willing to spend the money. Paper is a widely recycled product and it is very economical, where as people look at things online once and forget about it, books are tended to be kept a lot longer and passed down generations either through charity shops or by their parents. A lot of people are highly against talking about women’s body image, and there is still a huge debate over whether women and men are equal. The opinion of SHOWING OFF may not appeal to everyone, but it will hopefully have a committed following with strong opinions behind it.
Opportunities to engage with consumers through the internet is something that could help to generate attention regarding the subject. Engaging with consumers on social media sites that they would be using on a day to day basic such as Snapchat and Instagram would feel more personal.
With nudity laws being a lot different in other countries and religions compared to the UK, SHOWING OFF may have to be a UK only production sold at events only, as once the product goes online it may be slightly harder to control where it’s going to be sent. Body image is a subject that is well represented in the press. with this being the case it’s not surprising that there are a lot of opinions and resources on the subject. Although this may be the case, when you are in need of help, something so small may push you in the right direction, and with the opportunity to help just a small number of people to be inspired by a publication aimed at getting someone to show off their bodies and imperfections is worth pushing this publication, so there is one more to add to the argument of women equality.
Appealing to a niche audience about body image within the female form. A book targeted at changing the way young girls look at their body. Sold at events and promoted through social media. Once established more could be sold online, starting at selling to specific countrys only due to issues with nudity in many cultures and countrys.
Due to not publishing in batch, most prints would have to be printed to order, therefore creating more waste than ordering in bulk would. There are plenty of events involving niche books that attract a specific audience to buy and browse products, these can make it possible to print batch orders, however you aren’t guaranteed to sell all of them and have to higher the price to gain a profit.
Appealing to an already established group of women and potentially men in the future who deal with self confidence and body issues to feel confident enough to show off themselves and their bodies for who they are and what they look like.
people Product PRice Place PromotionPerformance
By promotion at niche events where competitions are promoting similar products, it’s targeting specific consumers who have an interest in the subject matter and are willing to spend that little bit more on the product.
Tools used to communicate with the audience will include social media, and P.R. Sending free copies out to different bloggers/youtubers who are very involved in the body image market. Using social media will attract the right customers that are interested in the subject, due to instagram being primarily a picture based site, this would be the best match for the publication.
SHOWING OFF is a small profit publication. The aim of this publication is not for profit, but for publicity. The publication will not be batch produced as there are little customers in the early days of production, this makes costing slightly higher as each publication in printed per person or online order, for events, this may be more cost effecting as the opportunity to print in batch may work well, however it would be a risk to take whether all coppies would sell.
Media Objective Media objectives are to build brand awareness and promote
SHOWING OFF’S message For this, as well as constantly reconfirming with it’s existing audience, the opportunity to chase down a new customer would generate wider promotion of SHOWING OFF. This could be done by getting men involved, by relating to men and their body issues as well as just women will open up a larger, more varied audience. Having online presence is something that will benefit
SHOWING OFF in the long run, by giving it a wider target audience, and benefiting existing customers by having an easy and quick way to connect. This will allow interested consumers to follow SHOWING OFF’S social media sites, who may not of heard of the publication before, but have the same ‘like for like’ opinions. This will slowly build confidence in what message is being delivered, resulting in creating a new customer for
SHOWING OFF.
s h o wi n g o f f
competitor situation
promotion Plan
It’s Pale
all skin,
about blonde
whites hair
and
and white
nudes. brows.
Pale is beautiful and so natural, people are so afraid of being pale in todays world that they smother themselves in all sorts of fake tan and makeup. My aim is to embrace womens natural self with calming and relaxed colours.
My idea around the plastic bag is to mimic the idea of being trapped insie your own skin, feeling trapped and claustrophobic.
Something to refer back to at a shoot is a vital scorce for me when styling or directing, not only that, but it helps the model and photographer get to grips of what they’re helping to create. Being in touch with yourself is the key to self confidence. If you don’t love yourself, who else will? I want the images to be all about the skin, finding the things which we as normal human beings don’t like about outselves and showing them to the world to express that it’s ok to have a few strechmarks or moles or a bit of flappy skin.
Diversity now 2016
Comparing two absolutely ordinary women to the size of their dressmakers mannequins. A very unrealistic size 12 mannequin compared against someone who is actually a size 12 and the differences between them. Using pink fruits as a quirky way to exaggerate and draw your attention to female body parts. By doing it with pink fruits, it makes it fun and draws your attention away from “it’s her boobs” and makes you look beyond that.