CONTAINS BRAND ME 10X10 & 360 CAMPAIGN 10X10
BRAND ME 10X10
HOW IS COLOUR RELATED TO MY PERSONAL BRAND? Over the summer research, it became apparent that I am drawn to colour. From further reflection and interrogation of who I am, I have come to the conclusion that I use colour to story tell and it is imperative to my work. Colour in abundance is something that comes to mind. I have further researched more into what certain colours can symbolise, although this can be down to personal beliefs at the end of the day. The colour orange plays a significant role within my work as it helps me recognise a time for change and to me it can represent the transformation I have undertaken over recent years. Exploring the idea that I am a synesthete helps me naturally feel what colour is best and how I can tell what I feel or see in my mind. Afterall, the colours are just in my head, so now all is to do, is to bring them to life.
HOW AM I A MAXIMALIST? I believe I am a maximalist as I can link this to my use of colour and how I do not reach for minimal tones or an aesthetic much of the time. You could see this as I like things to look ‘busy’ over stripped backed. I prefer things to be full of little things or bold and bright things. ‘Colour in abundance’ could tie in with being a maximalist because it demonstrates that I want it all.
WHY IS THERE AN ESSENCE OF DRAMA AND THEATRE IN MY WORK AND HOW DO I INTEND TO SHOW THIS? I feel I was surrounded by drama in my childhood in regard to my dad. Something I hadn’t understood until I was older was dads drinking problem which was his ultimate downfall. He would often cause chaos, cause hurt to others and struggle to show his love. His moods would switch in a blink of an eye and there’s the drama! Although dads’ outbursts were negative in my childhood and sometimes later on in my teenage years too, I don’t want to look at it in this way. Already noted in my summer research, my aim was to embrace my past and learn that it has shaped me in who I am today; how can I shine a new light onto this? Creating drama within my work, creating busy and bold pieces, allows me to experiment an essence of drama and theatre at my own accord that I can control, minimising and maximising as I please. It lets be become in charge of situations that I hadn’t have been beforehand. Alongside the aforementioned links between drama, I can also attach this to the luxury designer market level with a more conceptual approach in the sense that I can be more fluid in my decisions and there are less limitations to that of a commercial approach for me.
HOW WILL I RE-ENACT THE BRANDS AND THEIR FUTURE? In a bold, expressive and childish way. Linking previously to the essence of drama, I believe this will encapsulate the way I work. Allowing myself to be free and less restricted as I was in my childhood. When responding to brands, I love to layer and piece together new pieces, create new outcomes. This could be a possibility for my 360° campaign and FMP, I could tell the stories of brands through my own eyes, let people experience something different.
HOW IS ORANGE LINKED TO MY BRAND? The Concept of Orange is my brand me name. From my peer questionnaire that I carried out within my summer research, a lot of my nearest and dearest viewed me as warm colours such as yellow and orange. Orange signifies change, and for me, I have undergone exactly that. I am more optimistic, I want to stand out more, and be heard, allowing myself to strengthen my self-confidence continuously.
HOW WILL I CARRY OUT MINDFUL PRACTICE? I understand and admit that everything I do is not always the most eco-friendly decision I could make as a creative. When using materials, I try to use what is around me. With my sketchbook, a lot of the materials I use are magazine pages from issues I own or receive monthly, scrap paper I have collected over the year and other things I find around the house. Fabrics I use, tend to be from my own wardrobe or again come from my scrap fabric pile that we use to create other textile products. Thinking about my FMP and styling items, I will most definitely search around for dead stock fabrics, donations and charity shop garments or fabrics to create my own piece. This will in turn be mindful practice, as although I am creating new things, I am not using brand new materials that add to our overconsumption. I am mindful in using what is around me.
REINCARNATION TO REINVENTION, HOW WILL I DO THIS AND HOW WILL I SHOW THIS? Enduring a shift through my personal mind-set and outlook on life and the possibilities for myself, I have gone through some form of reincarnation. I have essentially come out of the darker side and am now trying to thrive and find my way to my future. Anyone can transform to become something better. If I run with the idea of reinventing brands or telling their stories through different storytelling methods, I will visually show what they were before, and what their reincarnated, potential could look like. This will require a lot of planning and research.
HOW AM I DESIGNER LUXURY, THE MORE VISIONARY END? Within all my modules at university I have included the luxury designer market level somewhere. My focus on it definitely started with my fashion forecast for Earth 2030. This pushed forward the idea that the future will be luxury, through re-sale, collaboration and investing. These are elements I have carried forward. The future is about building the foundations and adding to the sentimentality that people have towards their clothes which can be achieved through the luxury designer market level. I believe I have an eye for more visionary and conceptual elements within my work, which is best suited to the luxury designer market level as I have less limitations on what I am doing.
BIG FISH TO SMALL FISH ANALOGY... It is slowly sinking in for me that I am currently a big fish in a small fish bowl currently and I am starting to venture into something bigger. My aspiration is to work within the industry which challenges me and develops me as a person. I will be a smaller fish in a bigger pond and I must be prepared to throw myself in at the deep end.
HOW AM I A STORYTELLER, HOW WILL I STORY TELL ?
Understanding that I am a maximalist who uses colour in my work, that is how I am a story teller and how I will tell my stories. It is obviously a lot more complex than that, but I believe my future lies in the hands of bringing elements to life and allowing people to immerse themselves in that. I would love to work of fantastical editorial shoots for magazines and equally more stripped back things as well to try something new. I have been continuously encouraged to tell stories without words which in turn has helped me to become more visual and be able to convey what I am trying to get across.
360 CAMPAIGN 10X10
HOW AND WHY IS DRAMA LINKED?
The essence of drama has been carried through my summer research, brand me work where I have interlinked the drama from my childhood into what I create today. My aim is to shine a new light on this as the darker times of your life can liberate you later on which I have acknowledged as I have considered many questions about myself that I wouldn’t have done so before. Moving away from my Brand Me work and focusing on my 360 campaign for my FMP, means how can I show drama that is maybe detached from my childhood but certainly inspired by it? Colour can be used to show drama through bright and bold colours, equally darker, sombre tones can have a dramatic effect as well. I will also achieve drama through shapes and movement.
WHY FOCUS ON VOLUME AND PROPORTION?
Further looking in to Comme des Garçons and the boldness of the creations, this informs my conceptual and more visionary side to my research and investigation. With the brands I decide to trickle down and bubble up, I want shape to take its toll, and ensure the stories are more impactful. Exploring the idea already that I am a maximalist and not a minimalist, it is my duty to explore this further and research and investigate how I can visually show this.
HOW WILL I INCORPORATE LAYERING?
Layering is something I enjoy incorporating in my work. I can do this in an analogue way through sketch booking and in a digital way using Photoshop. Thinking about my FMP, I want to use physical clothing and physical models and to inform my desire to create volume I will need to source varying clothing and fabrics that I can deconstruct and reconstruct. I will also achieve layering within my film and images as I way to make my film creative and contemporary.
HOW WILL I STORYTELL?
Story telling has been a running theme throughout my work. I never think about the stories I want to create at the final, I just run with the experimental stages and see what happens. Positive things and useful elements can arise from mistakes and unplanned methods of working. I aim to take existing brands and shine a new light in taking the audience through a different vision line in experiencing concepts of brands that can fulfil the audiences’ needs. Colour and messaging will help to immerse the audience into their future.
WHAT I STHE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOUR?
Colour is imperative to my work. Using my analogy of Synesthesia and my own experiences with it, it helps me decide which hues work best, whether there’s a need for rich, intensive colours, or more stripped back, muted tones. It is how ‘The Concept of Orange’ works. Colour is able to set the tone of what the audience is visually looking at, it tells the story.
WHY HAVE I CHOSEN TO FOCUS ON TRICKLING DOWN AND BUBBLING UP BRANDS? Going back to one of my very first lectures at university, we learnt a lot of terminology, including the market levels and how ideas can be trickled down, and equally bubbled up. I want to include these elements within my 360 campaign which will inform my FMP. I believe the future of fashion lies in the hands of the luxury designer market. How can visionary brands inform slightly lower brands to entice consumers to build the foundations of future relationships between brand and consumer? Equally, how could middle brands become more visionary and conceptual in order to escape reality and experience conventional pieces in an unconventional way, yet become more exciting and entertaining?
WILL YOU USE FILM?
My aim is to create some sort of film. Whether this be a behind the scenes shot film or solely the final thing, it’s something I need to investigate further when I interrogate my 360 plan and what seems best. Currently, I believe I will be shooting content from behind the scenes and the actual thing so maybe a blended film of the both would be suitable to further show my journey. Other forms for me to show my work will be with the intension of creating magazines for each area I cover where shots of my film will be featured.
HOW IS IDENTITY LINKED?
Identity has always been a part of my work from my first year at university, as I struggled to find my feet at the beginning of the course. Everyone is constantly changing and evolving and I would like to incoporate the idea of identity within my FMP to ensure my university experience as the messaging and meanings behind it have been circular or whole for me. Identity will be transpired through colour, shape and emotion, as it can be an overwhelming concept to think about and we can easily become in a crisis where we struggle to understand who we are on an individual level.
WHY CHOOSE THE LUXURY DESIGNER MARKET LEVEL OVER OTHERS?
All of my projects within my university experience have been centred around the luxury designer market level. It is the future. It is this market level which needs to work harder in capsulating generations to build and maintain future, reliable and trustworthy relationships between brand and consumer. A way of future proofing the market level and the brands that sit within it. Future proofing brands can be done in a strategic way that can be both beneficial for long-term success, but it can be made to be a fun, creative and visionary journey which is what I aim to showcase.
WHY GEN-Z?
I am focussing on Generation- Z. I belong to this generation and my goal in life is to be able to start investing into the luxury designer market level. They are set to make up for 40% of global personal luxury goods by 2035. Gen-Z are people born between 1997 and 2012. A lot of them, including myself are studying and are beginning to venture into the world of work. So, what about consumer habits? Over half of reported buying their clothing from fast fashion brands in a Vogue Business survey in 2020. I think we can imagine the picture on a global scale. Consumer habits can be detrimental to the environment, which is why luxury designer brands need to win over this booming generation so they can inform their children.
WILL I NEED TO COLLABORATE FOR MY FINAL MAJOR PROJECT?
Collaboration is a way of creating excitement between brands, it creates a buzz that people want to hop on the bandwagon with. I am yet unsure whether I will be collaborating different market levels, or if these will be solely reinventions of brands entirely. Another method of collaboration, is that in order for me to envision my ideas and bring them to life, I do not think I will be able to execute this entirely on my own. I will definitely need a photographer and videographer in order to capture the content. I will be using my creative direction and stylist qualities in order to help convey what I want to be captured. I will also need a make-up artist and models in order to help tell the different stories. This will help me work in a team, and lead my very own project, preparing me to be in charge of something which will further benefit me when I go into industry.
HELEENA HOUSTON - 1918689 VISUALS BOOK (Containing Brand Me 10x10 and 360 Campaign 10x10) AD6605 - CONCEPT DIRECTION AND DEVELOPMENT