Dudus by Jazz Grant LFW Presentation
This year,at London Collections Mens, there were 32 catwalk shows, 25 presentations, 55 designers in the Designer Showrooms, 5 digital presentations and 21 brands hosting events. What can be deduced from the schedule is that the catwalk is no longer the reigning queen of presenting fashion, in fact they make up just over half of all that was on show.
Presentations are more of an art form, where the audience can get closer to the collection and press images are high quality, also allowing opportunity for smaller brands to use this as a multi-purpose function, lowering spend by using this as a lookbook opportunity. Presentations can also allow designers to focus on creativity and not be limited by a 10ft wide runway.
These moments are opportunities for designers to communicate the totality of their brand and are being created with dynamic consideration like never before; using sound, art and scenography to interact with their audience without the cost that goes into a catwalk show.
CAPLANENTWISLE
Shrimps
Cunnington & Sanderson
Faustine Steinmetz
A.W.A.K.E. Edeline Lee
Maison Margiela
UNDERSTANDING THE COLLECTION
Investigation 1: Graduation Campaign Video
light and dark
Key Themes: movement
noun: movement 1. an act of moving from one place to another 2. a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas.
into focus, out of focus
top, bottom
Fabric: pan wide, close-up
relax, tension
A cascade of ruffles...
left to right
rotate, static
UNDERSTANDING THE COLLECTION
Investigation 2: The DUDUS Story
The revelation that Dudus moved about Jamaica disguised as a woman has sparked some discussion on the island about the nature and role of powerful "dons" in the broader society. Writing in the Jamaica Observer, columnist Chris Burns notes that while the image of Coke in a woman's wig is at first comical, it also reveals nagging social problems in Jamaica.
Key Themes: movement noun: movement 1. an act of moving 2. a group of people working together to advance their shared political, artistic ideas.
social, or
J FLAG MISSION: To promote social change by empowering the Jamaican LGBT community & build tolerance for and acceptance of the LGBT community by the wider Jamaican society.
The Gully
Wig: on & off, symbol of binaries
Greenery features, Caribbean palm trees, vivacious in colour, key motif
ARTISTIC VISION
Investigation 1: The Durimel Brothers for Music Video Mereba - Bet
Marian Mereba Releases “Bet” With Powerful Imagery Assist From Durimel Brothers With an overcast-style finish, the video spotlights the Caribbean’s struggle with accepting homosexuality. The protagonist is seen in an apparent internal struggle with self-acceptance before being outed by a peer who becomes violent. With fireworks representing the aggressor’s landed punches and glitter replacing the victim’s blood, this visually demonstrates the power of symbolism in art.
Gang culture, masculine stances, flesh revelation
“I really wish all these kids could come out. Or just one of them. You could speak for so many people. You could inspire so many kids. You could be like, "I live in the Caribbean. I go to church with my parents every Sunday. Everyone knows my parents at the church. But this is who I am and it's OK."
"Recently, we've been loving the quote, 'Out of darkness, comes light,'" Jalan explains, "so we try to implement that in our work regularly, whether it be story-wise or through color and lights."
The video will be shown at The Underground Museum , a gallery that presents museum-quality art — Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall and Henry Taylor, for example — in a low-income neighborhood in L.A. "A big part of what we want to do is just present something and say that this lifestyle, these choices, this perspective, exists," Jibril says.
Several works shown at the Underground Museum, depict epic brutality against innocent young
black men, women, and children
at the hands of law enforcement and ordinary citizens. Others are visions of beautiful black bodies—on the streets, as cowboys on horseback, and as ethereal lovers in the Garden of Eden—each full of power and grace.
Robert Gober titled "Hanging Man/Sleeping Man," from 1989
ARTISTIC VISION
Investigation 2: Moonlight, 2016
Moonlight is the heartbreaking story about a young African American coming to terms with his sexuality in a violent world, and another step forward for LGBT narratives -
Dazed Magazine
Blue hues at midnight, inspiration for model poses
Invitation format?
Parallel editing (cross cutting) is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other.
“It is startling to realize that Moonlight is only Barry Jenkins’s second film (his first, 2008’s Medicine For Melancholy, is available to stream on Netflix). From the opening scene in Juan’s tricked-out sedan, set to Boris Gardiner’s “Every Nigger Is A Star,” (recently famously sampled on Kendrick Lamar’s “Wesley’s Theory”) to lyrical scenes shot on middle school football fields, in sun-drenched diners, and on the beach under the blue moonlight, Jenkins conjures a deep, tropical melancholia, aided by a soundtrack of dreamy soul classics.”
ARTISTIC VISION
Investigation 3: The 10th Zine
“In the cotton field� Free, educated men, juxtapositions, nature motif
”When you flip through The Tenth—a “zine” that has a heft and aesthetic vision on par with Vogue’s September issue—you receive an education. Or perhaps I should say you get schooled on a version of gay black manhood developed on its own terms and written in its own words.”
vast spaces,naked torso
Seated or standing?
Use of flowers, depictions of nature wilting rose symbol, motif
Nature area for presentation
“The magazine which is for, and by black gay man� The Tenth Underground in the undergrowth - burial, prison
Masculinity in accessories
Pastels or brights?
SET DESIGN
Lighting
Bearing in mind past research that has involved different lighting, blue hues in Moonlight & the antique feel of the Mereba - Bet music video, Adobe Software has been used to create a light that evokes this hazed, vintage feel but highlights detail through darkness & contrast in an attempt to recreate the lighting at the proposed presentation.
Selection was made for a raise in contrast, and therefore was concluded to use natural light. Not only does this reflect the ideas of Dudus hiding in broad daylight from police in his disguise as a woman, it also presents the message of the “purely optimistic imaginings of neutral utopias,� spoken by Matthew Stone. The ideal situation where your version of femininity & masculinity is completed accepted, for all to see, in the natural light.
SET DESIGN
Theory 1: Movement through Fabric
Ways to display movement: fabric & intertwining models Photographer: Matthew Stone
cultural provocateur.
“Our surroundings and ourselves often seem divided into irreconcilable binaries: right/wrong, light/dark, good/evil, I/other. Rather than rejecting these overly simplistic, seeming contradictions, Stone proposes new contexts for their powerful co-existence.�
Showing diverse bodies at play and in conflict, Stone states “These new works are my previous, purely optimistic imaginings of neutral utopias.�
"Optimistic thought without action will not fix broken systems. In fact pitching optimism as the primary means of self-actualisation for those facing genuine adversity can be a patronising tool of oppression. By-your-bootstraps philosophies tacitly reassert the toxic idea that inequality arises from the attitudes of those who are oppressed rather than the systemic violence enacted upon them." - Matthew Stone 2016
The setting was a dark room, Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got to Do playing in the background, and the models placed against the backdrop of heavy velvet curtains in the main colours of the collection: black, purple, red, pink, orange and yellow. The looks were sleek and elegant, yet with a youthful edge.
Example Presentation: Marta Jakubowski AW17
Marta Jakubowski’s new collection is a trip straight back to the 80s with a refreshing take on a bold but nevertheless soft femininity. She succeeded in presenting her own version of power-dressing that fully owned the strong colours chosen for this collection without having to rely on exaggerated and often unflattering padded shoulders. The set and individual pieces are each well-thought elements, which combine and reveal the inside story and themes of celebration and the cycle of life. Key themes & story for Dudus Collection
Colour clash through fabric, potential high cost? Key fabric for collection in Dudus is denim, drape effect lost in cotton composition?
Cost element, also numerous colours necessary due to palette for collection
Stairs or floor
Example Presentation: Maison Margiela AW17
“So today we were left to consider the shift in format from runway show to static presentation and draw our own conclusions. To a soundtrack of Kerouac’s urgent bourbon drawl and the honeyed strangeness of Nico, two of the three rooms were inhabited by models in repose. In one, they sat on a scattering of low chairs, facing the crowd, sometimes chatting. One model read a fine 1958 paperback edition of Henri Bergson’s first doctoral wrangling with the concept of free will and subjectivity within the strictures of time, duration, and space.”
Minimal use of fabric in comparison, low cost solution to let the clothes stand out Appropriate colour pallette for Dudus
SET DESIGN
Theory 2: Static Models
Example Presentation: Sirloin AW17
Models use of plinths, old signs & toilet seats
“Sirloin gave tradition the bum's rush by presenting its debut collection this weekend in one of the French capital's most well-appointed public toilets. Designers Mao Usami and Alve Lagercrantz said their odd choice of venue was meant to play tribute to "a place that allows the trivial, silly yet brilliant questions and ideas in life to flow free". They said it was time to bring the smallest room out of the closet, as models revealed the designers' autumn-winter collection by opening the mahogany cubicle doors of the historic Madeleine public toilets in central Paris.�
The designers insisted, however, that the venue was not a stunt, saying the collection "focuses on the intellectual questions that every Sirloin girl would ask herself during their brief moments in the toilet".
Integrating pattern in garments with features
Example Presentation: Niro Wang
NIRO WANG is a London-based lifestyle brand, designs for urban nomads, who still have curiosity for our mysterious nature. The designer himself learns and promotes the philosophy of balance, the balance between juxtaposing elements: urban and natural, destruction and regeneration, the fast and the slow, organic and synthetic. We are not afraid of peculiarities or imperfections and often prefer them. For we believe those delicate flaws are what make us human.
Canal promotes idea of vast spaces, slow moving boats reflect whimsical elements in Dudus collection, however this is a quintessentially British past-time, therefore not as relevant.
LOCATION
Theory 1: Oval Space, East London
Oval Space is a multi-purpose venue with over 5000 square feet of unobstructed statement space, in a unique London setting. Our location adjacent to the iconic Bethnal Green gasholders, along with the volume of space they offer and the versatility of our layout, have helped us become one of the capital's most in-demand event destinations.
Balcony function, possible viewpoint for collection amongst the infrastructure below
Stage area? Models grouped for gang style presentation
Oval Space is part of a re-generation project by Hackney Council. Containerville is a home for startups and small businesses, consisting of 45 containers arranged over three floors and upcycled into modern work spaces behind Oval Space, next to the Regents Canal. Connotations can be deduced from this in relation to Dudus’ relationship with the people of Tivoli gardens, providing lighting, electricity & schooling to a run-down, low-income area.
A visit to Oval Space highlighted a location for the Dudus presentation, the Empress Coach station.
Nature motif in ivy, direct inspiration from Niro Wang with canal
Looming overhead against the skyline is a tall ruinous structure with the square proportions of a medieval castle, London’s last unreconstructed bomb site, left to decay since an incendiary hit in World War II. Beyond this, you pass under the glistening railway arches to arrive at the canal where, to your left, a vista opens up with majestic gasometers reaching up the sky and a quaint old building with bay-fronted windows entirely overgrown with ivy, cowering beneath. This is the headquarters of Empress Coach
Station.
The story of Empress Coaches itself became interwoven with the history of the twentieth century when they were requisitioned during World War II to drive personnel around airfields in Norfolk, while the staff that remained in London took refuge in the repair pit in the coach yard as a bomb shelter during the blitz.
These are now the twilight years at Empress Coaches, after the family sold the business and are simply employed to keep it ticking over, which explains why little maintenance is undertaken. Yet the textures of more than eighty years of use recall the presence of all those who passed through and imbue the place with a rare charmed atmosphere.
Use of plants, wood doors show touch of nature, also within colour palette
Narrative experience, models would be placed, static poses to create a story
LOCATION
Theory 2: Alexandra & Ainsworth Estate
High density, low rise building. In spite of government push for high-rise buildings, as they felt such high demand for social housing could be reached through this method. This created one of Europe’s great social housing projects – the Alexandra & Ainsworth estate.
The estate is inside the Camden Borough, which was formed in 1964, comprised of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras, respectively intellectual, wealthy & radical.
Vegetation is said to hide the architects mistakes, and the estate was named the “hanging gardens of Camden.� Modernist architecture refers to the home of the gully girls & the industrial feel of Tivoli gardens.
In the 1980’s, Thatcher dictated rate capping on social housing and the building was a victim of irregular maintenance in public areas, concrete and other elements, which became dirty.
In turn, incidents of reported & unreported
crime said to be significantly higher than in
surrounding estates due to the complex layout, in hindsight it seems as realistic to look at social problems as an particular issues with the estate itself.�
wider
EXPERIENCE
Music
Factors to consider in relation to location, Empress Coach Station: Genre; 1940’s War Music, Black 40’s Music, Folk & Singersong, Ambient Time Period; 1940’s Wartime, Current Lyrics; Harmonic, Choral, Social, Relationships Videography; “Count Basie Orchestra in "Take Me Back, Baby" (with vocal by Jimmy Rushing) (1941), Mereba - Bet Associated Themes; Love, Heartbreak, Persecution
Set List
Set List
Coldplay - Midnight Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow Moby - 18 Orbital - Belfast
Take Me Back Baby - Count Basie, vocals by Jimmy Rushing (1941) Peg O’ My Heart - The Harmonicals Buttons & Bows - Dinah Shore
Atmospheric, emotive, use of instruments is key to instilling the brand story of hardship in Jamaica in relation to homophobia, also retold in the hardship and endurance of the location, yet ivy still grows.
Relative to Dudus in relation to time period, iconic videography by black swing singer, Jimmy Rushing, calling up to his wife in a 1940’s condo, similar to that of Empress Coach Station.
Set List Gladys Bentley (feat. Eddie Lang) How Much Can I Stand? (1928) Bessie Smith - Young Woman's Blues
In the early twentieth century, same-sex relations in America were punishable by arrest, this set-list is from persecuted gay jazz singers who sing of their stories “When you see two women walking hand in hand, just look 'em over and try to understand: They'll go to those parties have the lights down low - only those parties where women can go.”
Set List Joan Baez - The Wild Mountain Thyme
Joan Baez - A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall Mereba - Bet
“If my true love will not go I will surely find another” This suggested set-list evokes emotion through lyrics through symbolising love through the changing seasons, as well as the earth folk tones. Joan Chandos Baez (1941) is an folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist , whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice, relating to that of Jamaica’s social issues surrounding homophobia.
Martin Audio vs Void System
In the darkness before the dawn, In the swirling of this storm, When I'm rolling with the punches and hope is gone, Leave a light, a light on...
The decision has been taken to use a Void Sound Motion, with 4 monitors, quoted at ÂŁ180 for the day, these would be placed tactically from windows & behind the canal wall, out of sight but ensuring the sound is panned to fill the vast area & ensure quality of sound.
INVITATION FORMAT
Theory 1: Motifs
Diana Davies is an American photographer, playwright, painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and musician who was one of the leading photojournalists documenting the feminist and gay liberation movement of the 1960s and '70s.
signs/messages
Photographer: Diana Davies
wigs
Her photographs cover the early days of diverse women's and LGBT social movements, as well as the Civil Rights, Peace, and farmworkers' rights movements.
Photographer: Diana Davies
Wigs in relation to Dudus
“I want to open people’s minds to the diversity of identities of black people within contemporary society,” men & nature
Photographer: Rhona Mackenzie
Men & Nature; palm tree motif, Alexandra Estate line drawings, trees, run-down area at Oval Space
INVITATION FORMAT
Theory 2: Layout
Flip–book or Flip-Book is a series of illustrations of an animated scene bound together in sequence so that an illusion of movement can be imparted by flipping them rapidly.
Flip books have been in circulation from the 1800s and are now recognised as one of the first techniques of interactive media.
Conclusion
Conclusion In depth study into the advantages of Fashion Presentation Analysed and Evaluated relevant examples of presentation & drawn conclusions in relation to Dudus brand story Examples of your ideas about fashion promotion that demonstrate experimentation with different media techniques in collages, line drawings & effects Provided a well rounded & meticulous method to the presentation, covering aspects of set design, artistic vision, lighting, music, location Generated an on-brand version of a traditional invitation using flick-book technique
Erin Fleming contacterinfleming@gmail.com