As the Fashion Brand Management module started everything I have learnt about myself during the Brand Me exercize was recycled into the initial outline of my 360 project, and following this, into my FMP campaign. What I have established from Brand Me was that I have a strong fascination with the youth market as well as with human psychology, both of which find a way to become intertwined with my work at university. Alongside the initial outline of my 360 campaign I have created a trend report that describes Generation Beta, a cohort of people yet to be born, the children of Generation Z. Within this trend report the demographic was examined from a commercial perspective, focusing more so on the ‘look’ rather than storytelling with my own primary imagery. In my final major project I would like to challenge that and take the narrative I have developed through hard, dedicated work and take it out of its trend forecasting context and into a campaign that is led more by a fashion communication, creative direction mindset.
In approaching the creation of the journey book specified in the brief I decided to use a digital sketchbook format in documenting the progress I have made from my 360 campaign to my final major project.
(360 Campaign available to be viewed through my ISSU account.)
As we approached the start of our final major project we were invited to find a gap in the market within the fashion industry and come up with a fix the problem. In my 360 book I have identified this gap in the market as Generation Beta, who my campaign discusses. By examining their parents’ generation and forecasting their tendencies one could create a consumer profile, ready for when Betas start exercising their extensive spending power.
My Generation Beta trend report describes a dystopian future in which consumers are looking to sugarcoat their realities by dressing themselves in clothing that has a soft, protective quality, like a cocoon, that creates barriers between them and the outside world. I believe that this idea could be highly successful visually if I was to carry it across, into my final major project.
Once the decision was made to focus on this previously mentioned segment of my original trend forecast I entered a new phase of the FMP project: visual research, looking for inspiration in creating styling options that speak to my forecast. I started by examining fabrics and other tactile physical textures as well as analysing brands on social media, stylists, designers to look for anything with a futuristic quality that has connections to extensive layering, oversized silhouettes, protective qualities, etc. While I was completing this research work I found it helpful to print out my resources and start collaging small individual mood boards together and labelling the aspects of the imagery I most enjoyed. The example on the left shows a very organic version of this, where I found inspiration in growth, knots and nature inspired, tangled shapes.
The images I previously spent time collating for the Brand Me module had to have much more of a commercial edge as my aim with creating that document was to showcase my ability to forecast trends in a traditional sense. As for this module I did not feel like I had any expectations or limitations as to what type of photographs or garments I should be looking at, which I found liberating. This part of the journey was what introduced me to sculptural design and avant garde fashion. Seeing these huge, stretched, oversized shapes on photographs made me feel excited as many times you did not know at first what exactly it is you are looking at. With my own fashion campaign I would like audiences to have the same reaction to what I present visually.
The first designer I have researched for my final major project was Rei Kawakubo, Japanese designer known for her fashion empire, Comme des Garcons. I was originally drawn to Kawakubo’s work as her use of abstract shapes on the runway hide hidden meanings and ideologies which I found intriguing. With my styling work for my final campaign I aim to build on everything I have learnt about Kawakubo’s philosophy and apply it to my visual narrative of Generation Beta.
The next stage of my research has brought me to Central Saint Martins, in particular the institution’s White Show, an annual event that highlights the creativity of their entry level design talent. As all students work with white materials their focus lies purely on the silhouettes created. My research into the White Show felt crucial to the visual storytelling of Generation Beta.
Tim Walker was introduced to my research journey during our Concept Direction & Development module but his influence carried on throughout my final year work therefore I made the decision to look at Walker’s work again and analyse how he goes about his image-making process. Contemporary fashion photography would not be the same without TIm Walker who, in his own way, discusses futurism through his work in a non-obvious way. His use of shapes and extreme proportions contour bodies in a way that is very visually pleasing for the viewer to engage with. The unnaturally long torsos or the tiny heads all create confusion which I believe is intended by artist.
When considering who my consumer was for my final major project I had to take into account the type of campaign I had intended to design. The aim of my Beta project is to provide businesses with insight into the future of the youth market, supplying them with intelligence through the profiling of the mentioned cohort. Building on this my consumer is future forward thinking individuals, mostly but not exclusive to Generation Z, whose responsibility it will be to cater for Beta’s demand.
As shown on this page my initial mood board was infused with colour, which later on in the process got stripped completely as my research informed my visuals further. I was always interested in raising awareness for mental health within my final major project, although initially this message was communicated through different visuals. This idea of cocooning or hiding from our troubles dominated my visual research, which is what the imagery responds to on my vision board.
Originally I experimented with trying to create abstract shapes through wrapping layers and layers of thick fabric around my model which reflecting on the results were not as successful as I thought they might turn out to be. Looking at the visuals I enjoy the various different textures coming through but I did not feel it came off as elevated as I wanted my concept to be. My aim for this experiment was to cocoon my model in a similar way to my inspirational images.
Prior to our styling workshop with fashion illustrator Tony Green we were asked to gather garments, materials, and props that we wanted to work with during this session. As I had a preset idea of the type of look I wanted to achieve, learnt from completing my initial styling vision board, I collected objects that have a tactile quality about them, mostly light colours so that in post production it would be easy for myself to make any adjustments.
Tony Green has given me his criticism on my pre-existing ideas and observed that the kind of styling inspiration I had brought reminded him of human sculptures, a phrase that I am going to note and include in my research moving forward, further solidifying my concept.
Firstly, I started by using my croquis developments to map out my ideas and using a mannequin I built out my first human sculptures. Once I was happy with the photographs I have taken I moved my styling material to my model and finalised the look by accessorizing the silhouette.
The croquis showcased on the following pages were collaged by hand. They represent my exploration of the Comme des Garcons way of storytelling with shapes.
I have made these experiments to prepare myself for our upcoming styling session with fashion illustrator Tony Green. My aim for these drawn croquis was to find exciting variations of shapes that I could recreate with props and pre-existing garments.
The drawn and painted hand shapes are inspired by my research into fashion editorials. A common pose for models is the “self-hug” which expresses vulnerability and emotion through the positioning of the arms. On the croquis development presented on this page the the oversized hands holding onto each other turned out very successfully.
I enjoy this way of storytelling: subtle hints to mental health issues and vulnerability through subliminal messaging.
To further support my consumer profile for Generation Beta I made the decision to conduct a survey targeting Generation Z, their parents’ age group. The questions within this survey were specially designed to gather data regarding Generation Z’s parenting tendencies with a focus on their core values. By including a number scale to each question the submitted answers could be ranked from most to least important, mapping out an efficient order of Generation Z’s parenting morals. On the following page you can find some of the answers from my survey of Generation Z that have informed the look and message of my final major project. All answers were submitted anonymously.
Equality
Teaching them to not take life too seriously.
Kindness!
Making sure that my children’s feelings are always made to feel valid is what’s most important to me.
I want my future child to know the importance of social justice.
My children’s generation is going to have a big weight on their shoulders, so encouraging them and letting them know they can do anything is key to me.
I will teach my children to treat everybody the same way.
Empowering my children to dream big and be part of positive change.
Allowing them to embrace what makes them different!
Since my last test shoot the general direction of my final major project has cleared massively due to the researching I have completed simultaneously to my primary experimentation. Using fabric and stuffing material I have hand-sewn some round shapes to be used as elements of my styling work as well as some more figurative pieces such as hands, signifying empathy and an emotional sensibility. Before working with a model I laid out my styling work on top of a white studio background, creating a flatlay design.
Once these photographs were taken I knew they had great potential in becoming part of my digital experimentations down the line.
The digital croquis developments on this page build on my primary sketches, exploring the idea of creating barriers between the outside world and the individual. For these developments I started to consider the type of look I wanted for my models to have. As my Generation Beta research told me that the discussed cohort of individuals will be the most diverse generation yet my aim was to include models that reflect this aspect.
Building on the ideas established in our styling session with Tony Green I took time to refine the look so that my next developments have a more cohesive, professional look. By taking white bedding and stuffing I hand-sewn some round shapes together and started pinning them to my mannequin in different variations, photographing each step of the composition.
The most successful exploration of my visual narrative was taking my styling work and conducting a self portrait photoshoot. As I was taking the imagery I observed carefully, looking out for what worked as well as opportunities for progression, Originally I thought I might not use human models for my promotional campaign and instead keep the styling work much more abstract and ambiguous, but when I saw the Comme des Garcons-like shapes against my frame it really contextualised my idea and altered my own proportions. This photoshoot marked a lightbulb moment for myself as I discovered how once my styling work is placed on people it changes the image’s proportions so drastically that the result makes grown adults appear as if they were small children. Since within my final major project I investigate the subject of the young changemakers that is Generation Beta I felt that the visuals and the message connected to each other in another meaningful layer.
Once I had taken some development photographs I moved my sewn shapes off the mannequin and onto myself. With a self timer I was able to capture a range of poses with this self-portrait series. It was rewarding to finally see my researched concept contextualised and on a model. In post production I changed the original images to black and white which enhanced the silhouettes further.
Following my research into Comme des Garcons I fell in love with how graphic some of Kawakubo’s sculptural designs looked walking down the runway. Some of them spheres, some shapes more abstract but all easily recognisable, making the models seem disproportionately small in comparison to their garment. I wanted to experiment with creating similar shapes so I completed a self-portrait shoot in which I took some bed sheets, stuffed them with tracing paper and tied them together so that they will hold while I take my pictures on a tripod. Although I was planning on sticking to a strictly monochromatic colour palette with this photoshoot I could not help but notice that the string I was using had a vibrant pink colour which the camera picked up greatly once I started taking some experimental photographs. The exposed yarn added strange, futuristic layers to the styling I have come up with this day which I hope to experiment with more on my following photoshoot.
As we met the halfway mark in our journey to finalising our FMP I continued to interrogate every aspect of the image making process, making sure that every element serves a purpose and speaks to an aspect of my creative concept. Within my research I looked at irony and contradiction, an area that I wanted to explore further with my creative choices. Following one of my test shoots unfortunately most of my images turned out to be extremely low resolution, resulting in material I first deemed unusable. As I opened each file a lightning bulb moment happened as I discovered that the ‘bad quality’ images are a great example of irony in image making as fashion editorials are commonly known for their high resolution, ‘perfect shots’, mine contradicted them. Moving forward I look forward to exploring creative avenues in which I can deliberately pollute my original images with imperfections
or grain.
As I started to look through some of the imagery from our workshop with Tony Green I started highlighting my favourite shots, some of which I had printed out in black and white and started reworking them through analog processes. Once I started collaging my images I started to see how effective the shapes and silhouette were once you take away the colour, a much more graphic look is achieved.
I had experimented with some flatlay designs, hoping that these photographs could be digitised and transferred onto models in Photoshop. Arranging all the different shapes has made me realised that within this project I have to work in a very considered way with my props, otherwise the meaning can be lost.
Developing my self-portrait shoot further I decided to merge my pre-existing digital and physical work. The reason behind this was to achieve a surrealistic look using the “Tim Walker method”.
These digital developments opened my eyes to the future possibilities in which I can further experiment with scale.
On the previous page you can find my finalised mood board for Beta, my final major project. The six piece collage was curated from my pre-existing visual research file. The images that felt most meaningful to the project were individually highlighted and edited together in Photoshop with slight alterations to their graphic design.
With the first set of formative assessments approaching I wanted to take some time to reflect on the creative processes I have carried out so far and evaluate how it could be improved moving forward. As I have only used one model apart from myself I have not been able to test my concept out with more than one subject of the fashion imagery. I look forward to experimenting with having multiple models wearing my concepts and seeing what their interaction, as well as movement could bring to the table.
Within this journey book I my personal aim is to offer insight into my creative decision making, explaining my thinking behind the campaign. Beta is a project full of symbolism, an aspect of my development I am proud of is that the imagery invites viewers to take a second, closer look and take time decoding what they are presented with. During the module I have learnt new qualities about myself as a creative, such as my interest in unconventional styling work. In Beta most of the styling consists of round shapes. These building blocks are the contextualisation of my research, taking elements of Comme des Garcons, Tim Walker, the surrealism of Alice in Wonderland, as well as Generation Z’s social media attitudes. The idea of putting up walls between each other, between us and the troubled outside world is exemplified in this creative concept.
Outlined in my 10x10x10 Brand Book a quality is discussed as a running theme throughout my Beta project: naive visuals. In designing the promotional campaign around the final major project my intention was to find avenues of communication that reflect this quality and that move past the still, two dimensional images that will be found in my final Exhibition Book. When I think of naivety I think of my childhood, a lot of which I spent watching cartoons. Cartoons in the early 2000s were not as perfect or seamless as the ones of today, glitches and harsh transitions between each frame were common in many of my favourite programmes. Inspired by this notion I started to experiment with stop motion animation, a technique that has a heightened level of charm attached to it due to the unpolished look of the final result.
Adding in another layer of Tim Walker to my test photoshoots I carried on exploring new ways in which surrealistic environments can be created both on- and offline. For my next set of experiments I have used leftover stuffing material and layered it on top of my studio background. My idea was to invite my models to stand in the middle of the pile of material that could look like grass or surface of another planet. Based on conversations in my forecast surrounding the limited time we have left on this particular planet due to pollution and our ongoing climate crisis this experiment felt culturally relevant to the project.
In preparation to my styling shoot I made the decision to include a variety of digital elements as well as some physical props in telling the narrative of my FMP. This choice was made to create a fully realised and visually engaging image that shows levels through the mixture of analog and digital communication methods. All of the props were handsawn by me and included figures such as huge tear drops, arms, hands, letters, headphones, VR goggles and a variety of round shapes in many different sizes.
Seeing my ideas shaping up in real life was an exciting time following all of the extensive analytical research work I have compiled for this module. The imperfect shapes, the cartoon inspired hands and accessories already started to tell a whimsical story of their own upon making. Placing them on top of my digital developments filled me with excitement, keen to see the magical world I was creating.
fire behind window
two tiny people dancing around in circles
nearly nearly extinct extinct (spray (spray painted toy painted toy dinosaur) dinosaur) ? dead behind drowning in the eyes XX caption: “I’M SOOO CLUELESS!!!” (HUGE FACE)
descriptor 3
descriptor 2
never going outside club
plant on fire empty hopes (white spray painted watering can) descriptor 1
When designing my Instagram campaign I used all of my research into stop motion animation and created some GIF animations to be used as part of the social media campaign. Alongside these moving images I have also developed still versions so that when the time comes for the final submission of the project I can make a judgement as to which one is most visually successful, telling the narrative exactly the way intended. On the following page you can find the template I had used to plan out my social media feed for Beta’s Instagram promotional campaign.
Lewis Caroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland has inspired me endlessly since I was a little boy. It was one of my first introductions to imaginary space where distorted proportions and unexplainable imagery belonged. Mostly impacting the post production side of my Generation Beta styling work,I had used Photoshop’s perspective tool to pay homage to this influence.
For my final shoot of the Beta campaign I used a total of three models and two separate locations. Using a variety of light setups and backgrounds allowed me to develop a versatile portfolio of work, ready for post production. My models were briefed on the creative concept prior to the shoot and a fitting for each participants was completed so that there would not be any issues on the day of the last studio appointment. Encouraging my models to act naturally and interact with each other allowed for my visuals to truly relate to the original concept.
Concluding my FMP journey I feel positive about being able to successfully execute a fashion campaign and its promotion. Beta represents a narrative that is highly personal and culturally relevant, I feel proud to have created a project that in the making utilised my full skill set and allowed me to push the boundaries of my own capabilities.