India Wright Portfolio

FASHION COMMUNICATOR (+44)7719149580 INDIAWRIGHT45@GMAIL.COM @INDIA_TIGERLILY WWW.INDIATIGERLILY.CO.UK

I T ' S J UST A BOY T HIN G ‘It’s just a boy thing’ is a collection of editorials focusing on what it means to be a man growing up in todays modern society and how image making can challenge the preconceived notions of masculinity.

Many ideas about masculinity are laughable, but they are totally pervasive in our society and can have serious consequences. In men, ‘masculine’ traits such as physical strength are celebrated, while ‘feminine’ traits such as sensitivity are vilified. As conversations around gender progress, these ideas become more and more exposed for what they are: ridiculous and outdated. ‘It’s just a boy thing’ has been created to look at these pressures faced by men to conform and assume a certain role in society that is damaging. We idealize a very primitive form of masculinity and have accepted this as the norm. Not just to society itself but to the mental health and wellbeing of the men themselves. Men of today, it is time to make a decision to adapt, evolve and move forward in to a new form of masculinity and identity. THESE SIX stories look at different stereotypes that men are expected to live up to, influenced by 80’s vinyl’s to influence the art direction created within them.

I hope this project hits home with men and women, as women are also affected by these old-fashioned ideas of masculinity and normative behaviours. I hope it helps MEN question the normality of non-emotional expression and question areas they might hold back on for fear of not fitting into the ‘real man’ club.

I T ' S JU ST A B OY T H I N G

“I would tell you That I loved you”

BOYS DON’T CRY

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL HARRY HANSON ‘ When life gives you lemon’s make lemonade’ This well known phrase is used to encourage optimism and a positive can do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune.

Lemons suggest sourness or difficulty in life, while lemonade is a sweet drink. But can this phrase be enforced when looking at men and their emotions. Society have used the phrase ‘Man Up’ for years having a negative impact on the way men have developed over the years and on how much they open up about their emotions and not revealing their weaknesses. It’s important for men to understand that it’s okay to express emotion and to figure out if there is a specific way, time or place that works best for them to release it.

‘I try to laugh about it Cover it all up with lies I try and laugh about it Hiding the tears in my eyes Because boys don’t cry’

DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO

I I I I I I I I I I

BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND BLEND

IN? IN? IN? IN? IN? IN? IN? IN? IN? IN?

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS...

...MAKE LEMONADE

INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODELS BEN COOPER, ROB HARPER CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING

UNDER PRESSURE

Under Pressure ? The pressures we all face in our personal and work life can build up on top of us. As many men struggle to express their emotions, do they turn to their male friendships for support. The insecurities and struggles for male youth that they face in a contemporary society, can have a massive impact on the way they develop as a person. The beauty within male friendships and relationships can release stress and help them learn to tackle problems faced together.

Pressure pushing down on me, Pressing down on you

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL HARLEY ROBERTS

I would go out tonight But I haven’t got a stitch to wear This man said “it’s gruesome That someone so handsome should care”

Bringing you comfort from your own home. This editorial, ‘working 9 to 5’, responds to the idea that male power is not just held in the individual but through social structures. A man’s career and the power it brings, holding a strong outer shell to a man’s identity. But the pressures faced on men within the work place is representing the psychological negative impact the pressures of a mans career has on his identity and feeling they can’t open up and be sensitive as the dominant definitions of masculinity are embedded in the social institutions making them feel insecure. focusing on the male in his own home environment, and how the pressures of a man’s career shouldn’t be at the forefront of his identity.

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL CONNOR HASTIE

SO MACHO!

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL ED HARLAND

do you feel strong? The belief amongst society is that strength and a mans body represents how masculine someone is but this is damaging. The idea that strength makes you a ‘real man’ is degrading to men in society.

Feeling confident in your own body is important for people’s health and the way they present themselves.

The stereotypical portrayal of masculinity, hegemonic masculinity, is one of dominance, strength and superiority. in the development for ‘new masculinity’ it is about creating a more open, fluid and honest measure of what it means to be a man.

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL EMANUELE PIARULLI

Help me make the most Of freedom and of pleasure Nothing ever lasts forever

'ITS MY OWN DESIGN

ITS MY OWN REMORSE' 'Help me to decide Help me make the most'

In the transition from boy to man, the pressures of power and money within the work place and in social situations amongst male peers has been a massive aspect of masculinity. Battles develop between what we want to be and what we are expected to be, As the pressures and competition between men is mentally straining. With the impact of social media and people constantly documenting their life style, Is this having a negative or positive impact? With brands and famous people promoting themselves online, People are in ore of the lifestyle they want or feel they need. Does money create happiness? And do we stand powerful when placed in designer garments or around high quality luxuries?

Handle with care is a publication that has been created to look at the pressures faced by men to conform and assume a certain role in society is damaging. Not just to society itself but to the mental health and wellbeing of the men themselves. The good news is that times are starting to change and the influence of contemporary image making can help influence that. Men of today, it is time to make a decision to adapt, evolve and move forward in to a new form of masculinity and identity. Handle with care would like to thank all the boys involved in the research and an insight in to their lives’ and their views of masculinity in today’s society. Also to the models throughout the editorials and to the wonderful Kat Olszewska for her support with photography.

H AND L E W I T H CARE .

H A N D LE W I T H CA R E .

LUDIC

INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL DOM CARTLEDGE

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING

Often we’re told that your younger years are the best of our life and that adolescence is a gift. Unfortunately, most often, the realisation of this only comes when your no longer in it. Youth is not cherished as it should be.

Each of us hoping to be an adult as our years fly by, not embracing our free younger years.

Bringing you back to a time when you were also free. For all those still embracing the golden years. Before you’re forced to simply play them on repeat, remember that these years indisputably are the best of your life.

STRONG & STABLE Bringing you authority & power, held through positions of dominant context. This editorial, ‘Strong & Stable’, responds to the ideas of hegemonic masculinity. A theory demonstrating that male power is not just held in the individual but through social structures. The location at Leeds University, the Rodger Stevens building, is a strong structure representing the focus on a man’s career and the power it brings holding a strong outer shell to a man’s identity.

Representing the psychological negative impact, the pressures of a mans career has on his identity and feeling they can’t open up and be sensitive as the dominant definitions of masculinity are embedded in the social institutions making them feel insecure.

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL DAN PIPE

SIT & WAIT

Nodding at 70’s style with colour inspiration from Wez Anderson’s Grand Budapest hotel. Delicate fabrics such as silk and fur with floral prints to complement and add a feminine touch to the clothing.

Shot on a Pentax k1000, adding to the retro and authenticity of the editorial.

While you sit and wait, stopping just for a moment, take some time out to think to yourself.

CREATIVE DIRECTION, STYLING & PHOTOGRAPHY INDIA WRIGHT MODEL

LUKE OWEN

SUNDAYS AT GRANDMAS INDIA WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY KAT OLSZEWSKA MODEL OLLIE MEEKE

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING

She is the woman that is always there for you, your rock, your queen; she is your Grandma.

The woman that knows you best and will always be there to do your muggy laundry.

Waking up with a slight hazy head from last nights activities, rubbing your sleepy eyes, you turn over to pick up your phone. Zoning out as you sit up in bed you hear sounds of clinking china from downstairs, followed by a whizz of a kettle; it’s your Grandma downstairs making you a cup of tea before you’ve even started your demands for the day. With not much on your schedule today why don’t you just turn off your phone and let’s set aside some hours to your beloved old dear. Put on your Sunday best on and sit down with grandma for a nice cup of tea.

EARLY MORNING RISER CREATIVE DIRECTION, STYLING & PHOTOGRAPHY INDIA WRIGHT MODEL

ADAM GILFOYLE

With the location holding tones of the deep blue, forestry greens and woodland rusts. Playing with wooden sticks, running through the crops, evoking times of childhood; the innocence of boyhood and the now savoured moments of freedom. Opportunities to wear experimental and free clothing. A runaway from adulthood, even just for this minute.

Boyhood relived through the clothing, the movements create distinct contemporary shapes. Continuing themes of the idealistic, a creation of interesting shapes from the placement of net dresses and velvet jumpsuits which is an experimentation of texture; selecting and infusing soft feminine garments with structured knits. The images creating a sense of freedom and dream like quality with the sunlight reflecting off the model.

D RAW M E L I K E O N E O F Y O U R F R E N C H G I R L S

Competition brief: Develop an in-store experience for John Lewis to engage, mesmerise, and nurture their audience of the near future. This can be a lasting change or a pop-up experience.

KALON BEAUTY THAT IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP The body form and peoples ideas of beauty and ugliness and the conventions which determine our definitions of each other. The way people see things and how we interpret what we see is so interesting. What can we define as beauty? Magazines show people in what they see as beauty which makes people lose there confidence or want to change themselves. Why do we have to wear clothes in a certain way or wear a certain type of clothing? How can beauty be defined when peoples minds work in different way and everyone is attracted to different people. What are things people are attracted to?

Everyones Bodies show their history, that have been altered by their experiences.

They can be decorated with bruises, scars, spots, stretch marks, freckles, pigmentation, veins. Bodies that have the marks of life on them. But also bodies which have been deliberately altered and decorated show a story by man rather than by life such as scarification, tattoos, plastic surgery, fillers, etc. Are some characteristics of bodies inherently beautiful, or ugly? Or because we see everything through the veil of culture, fashion and convention is it almost impossible for us to see bodies objectively? The beauty of someone can be covered up because they are ashamed or don’t have confidence in themselves because of what the media or societies perceptions are!

I want to express peoples beauty within their body and look at the features that someone should focus on to make them feel more confident, as everyone has one part of their body that they love or find attractive but also have the confidence to embrace there imperfections as we are unique and one of a kind.

The images I have created show a woman in her natural state at home expressing her freedom and femininity to be who she really is. The intent for this body of work is to express people’s beauty within their body while being their natural self without having to cover up or trying to be something else. I have created a pair of stockings, hand embroided and beaded to represent skin imperfections.

CREATIVE DIRECTION, STYLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY - INDIA WRIGHT MODEL - ASH-LEE CULLEN

To me, the point of feminism is to be inclusive. - Petra Collins

Branding and photography India Wright garment Sabrina Styles

BORN ON RYE BREAD

PHOTOGRAPHY INDIA WRIGHT GARMENTS SABRINA STYLES MODEL KATE ROBERTSON