Rosie Leggett rleggett123@gmail.com 07549021567
@roleggs_ cargocollective.com/rosieleggett cargocollective.com/thesupernormalproject
SUPER -NORM
The Supernormal project documents the style and dressing habits of men who don’t align themselves with fashion in any way, shape or form. Men who dress for practicality, comfort, ease, and individual pleasure – ‘Why did you choose to wear that shirt?’ ‘Because I like it’. This group is not often catered for in the fashion market, and less often observed. Men who associate themselves with fashion follow trends and take inspiration from contemporary design to inform their clothing choices and habits; where do these “supernormal” men get their clothing styles and habits from? How do they decide what to wear when they roll out of bed in the morning? Whether there is in fact anything that truly informs their decisions, and whether they even care, is explored in the Supernormal project.
We interviewed Emily King about her sense of the supernormal. We discussed the supernormal in it’s relation to fashion, Levi 501’s, school changing room taps, and uniqlo. Emily King writes books, curates exhibitions and contributes articles to national newspapers, previously holding the role of design editor at frieze magazine. She has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (the one that all the politicians have), a Masters from the Royal College of Art and a PhD from Kingston.
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E M I LY K I N G
I know that you wrote about the origins and meaning of the supernormal for Freize, how did you become aware of the phrase? My husband and I are good friends with Jasper [Morrison], so were always aware of his work. We then tried to keep this idea in mind when designing their house – looking for the default tap, the default sink etc. But as soon as you start looking for these things they become really hard to find, even though you see them everywhere. What does the supernormal mean to you? What images does it bring to mind? (For me, before I read more about designer Jasper Morrison, it was the image of something being so normal and everyday that became a fashion choice by default.) In a design context is appears to mean much more than that, what does it mean to you? It reminds me of a child being allowed to dress itself! [laughs]. The idea of comfort and practical clothing totally regardless of the style. Just wearing what they want to wear. It’s the default image of everything, like the most basic and standard version – think the school changing room taps. And in terms of fashion you can think about jeans. Although they’ve become something that people just throw on there really is no such thing as a default pair of jeans anymore. When I was young I used to wear men’s Levi 501’s, really straight legged and quite shapeless. They were the, kind of, basic default jean. But then jeans became very skinny and low to the waist and something that I wouldn’t ever dream of wearing. I don’t think that there is such a thing as the default basic jean anymore
because every pair has some minute detail that the designer has thought about incredibly hard. You imagine jeans as an item that isn’t given much consideration when it’s designed, but in reality that’s not the case, they are such a commonly worn item and there are so many variations. In one of your interviews with Naoto Fukasawa, one of the champions of the supernormal, he uses the phrase: “People don’t need design; they need tools for their life. Design shouldn’t be the goal”. This reflects completely the dressing habits and intentions of the men documented in this book, what is your take on this idea? Do you think it is something that is acted on so subconsciously that few people are aware of it? I think that it is subconscious, these people dress for total ease and personal comfort. But at the same time is it whether they aren’t thinking about it, or whether it’s just a really boring template. Going back to the school tap for example, it looks on first glance like it hasn’t been considered and the design and beauty of it hasn’t been addressed, but obviously it has been designed by someone it’s just according to a really boring template. I mean, could this be the same with your supernormal dressers? It’s interesting that you say that because one of the key things I’ve been exploring is the obsessive specifications that these guys set for themselves when dressing. On one hand they look like they haven’t considered their outfit at all, but on the other hand they have set themselves this really specific set of rules. They are just following a very
boring template, but it’s a template that seems to help them function in their day to day lives. You have to consider, as well, lots of these people will think they’re acting to be non-conformist, people are setting themselves these set of rules which are regardless of fashion, but at the same time allow them to fit in with a certain tribe. My daughters never wore uniform to school, and I always thought that they and their friends all looked exactly the same, but they obviously used to make such subtle changes that, in their tribe, allowed them to identify themselves. Their decisions weren’t necessarily fashion based, but they were definitely to do with conforming and fitting in, even though in their minds they were making themselves individual in their crowd. Thinking about the future of the concept, do you think that more people becoming aware of the supernormal will lead to it becoming more niche and exclusive, something that people have a desire to be a part of? The conscious rejection of fashion is becoming a luxury trend at the moment. Luxury brands like Permanent Collection and Egg don’t release seasonal collections and all of their products are intended to be your almost default collection. There’s basically one or two of each product. People who can afford to shop in a luxury market want to avoid the set of rules that comes with a fast fashion turnover. I mean the stock in Zara changes every 10-15 days or something like that so it encourages people to be impulsive with their purchases, and they have to stick with the trends Zara are pumping
But by shopping in this supernormal basic collection and rejecting trends they’re buying into something they don’t have to worry about changing with trends. Uniqlo is another good example, even though it’s not luxury, I mean all of their stuff is like reflecting this idea of super basic and totally functional clothing.
to buy into. People create these rules for themselves and put themselves in a box even though they think they are being non-conformist. There is always a group of people that dress in this certain way and you may align yourselves with them accidentally. It kind of brings into question how authentic individuality is.
I suppose there’s also the idea of Normcore and the Vetements stereotype collection but Normcore was always about wearing quite crappy low end products. Wearing something undesirable and unremarkable that can be thrown away. I suppose it’s another way of rejecting fashion trends, but in this case it’s by adopting another throw away trend that just distances itself slightly from fashion.
Would you say that you had any particular or obsessive dressing habits of your own? Is there a particular garment that this related to? If you do, could I ask you to describe it and why? I’m currently wearing a Uniqlo Heat-tech jumper. I’d say those are definitely my most supernormal item. I wear them pretty much every day. My kind of default outfit would consist of a uniqlo heat-tech, high denier tights, and Margaret Howell Jeans. I want to be able to walk into a room and I don’t want people to look at me and think about my clothing choices. I want to be able to go seamlessly under the radar like the school changing room tap.
When I pick running trainers I’ll always consider how they fit me feet and how they affect my running style over how they look. I actively try and turn off the aesthetically driven part of my brain and I always feel some sense of achievement if I come out with a really ugly pair. Ski boots are the same, they totally 100% functional but they’re so ugly and horrible. The uglier the better, I wonder if the uglier looking ones are more effective. Alternatively, do you think that the more people begin to identify with this idea, the more diluted it will become? At the moment it appears, to me, to be more an instinctive and subconscious thing, but do you think it has the potential to become something people buy into and used as a marketing tool? Like I said before, it is already something that people are starting
Nike Air Force trainers as well maybe, I think they’d definitely be my default, normal, basic trainer. Or the most normal one I’ve been able to find. I felt like I was searching for something like that for a long time and then when I bought them I came home and my daughter told me that they were the trainers worn by the girls that used to bully them in school! I felt terrible! It changed the connotations a bit definitely.
“I don’t think there is such a thing as the default
basic
jean anymore”
YOU tH
Photographic series entitled ‘portraits of contemporary youth’. Photos of Bethan Hood, 14, labelled a ‘Brave Young Thing’, who shaved her head to raise money and awareness for the Isabel Hospice.
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Norwich based streetwear brand Delores Daywear is launching a networking event to promote female empowerment through the support of female run, British, independent brands. The event and following booklets that will be sent out will create a collective group of women who can then support eachother in their creativity and in the running of the businesses should they need it. The event will run out of Camp and Furnace, and a promotional campaign will run before the event and alongside it. The outcomes included the proposal for the event, a social media campaign, and a publication aimed at the attendees of the event to be released quarterly, containing information about the guest speakers at the upcoming event, as well as other female creatives to note and consider for collaborations, and a page of ‘ones to watch’. The idea is to grow the event, starting in Liverpool, and gradually expanding as the collective grows across the North West and eventually across the rest of the country, and once this happens branching out further than the four seasonal events, to having a national event in London to bring creative women in all areas of the country together.
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Promotional Campaign/PRINT
Venue and Facilities
A promotional booklet will be produced that will be released quarterly, one month prior to each event. The editions will be linked to each event and released as Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Editions. Each edition will contain two interviews with guest speakers/attendees of the upcoming event, along with bios of #GIRLBOSSES to note, and ‘ones to watch’. The booklet will be printed out as a concertina/fold out booklet and will have a paper band around the centre of each one. It will also been sent out in small kraft paper boxes with a quirky piece of promotional material or an object relevant to each seasonal edition.
Camp and Furnace is located in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool, just minutes walk from the city centre. The area is recognised as Liverpool’s creative quarter, and the venue is well known for hosting events and festivals in it’s Furnace Room – such as Laces Out Sneaker Festival, Circus and Chibuku DJ events, and Liverpool’s Independent Food Festival. The Furnace Room itself has bar and toilet facilities, as well as a stage which can facilitate music and performances/speeches, and the capacity for pop up stalls and extra areas. The room is equipped with long tables and benches, which can be kept or removed for the event if needs be. Alongside the Furnace Room is the main bar which is much smarter, has toilet facilities and a smoking area, as well as a bar seating area with sofas and tables, however the capacity of this area is not very high.
Live venue Event Space 9000 sq ft. Street Level Drive in access Period details Machinery Distressed feature walls and doors
T: 07549 021 567
Promotional Campaign/SOCIAL Basic social media images with the details, time, location of the event and where to buy tickets will be developed to be posted from the official ‘Support Your Local Girl Gang’ Instagram as well as the London Fashion Agency Instagram and Facebook, and that of Delores and Beija Flor. Basic posters will be developed to be posted periodically across these social media platforms, along with count down images leading up to the event. An image either from the catalogue of inspirational images or one of the promotional graphic images will be posted a minimum of once daily from the official Instagram. Delores’ new collection features “Support Your Local Girl Gang” t-shirts, and an editorial shoot inspired by female skater gangs will create another series of images that can be used as part
Capacity: 860 stnading 500 theatre 200 banquet
support your local girlgang
Event and PR Proposal supportyourlocalgirlgang_
Furnace
supportyourlocalgirlgang.com
support your local girlgang
Event and PR Proposal supportyourlocalgirlgang_
T: 07549 021 567
supportyourlocalgirlgang.com
support your local girlgang
D&AD
EXTERIOR
The pop up showroom will be made mainly from glass and wood, and will have vinyl stickers creating a pattern across the window in the same colour as the posters and roll out pathway. The arrow stickers create a design that has been developed from the JLP original logo, inspired by the idea of movement and business, the arrows are intended to reflect the busy lifestyle of the new customer John Lewis is adressing. The pop up and walkways will be placed in situe 1 week before the launch, so that commuters become aware of the space well in advance. A launch date can be put up outside the doors of the pop-up and on the promotional materials.
COLLAB
These images are taken from a collaborative project with graduate designer Amy Ralph. The shirt was created with the designer’s late grandfather in mind, as he spent a lot of his life in Japan. The shoot took on a similar theme, taking inspiration from urban Japanese fashion and modern martial arts films.
UN_ FOLD
UN_FOLD magazine is a yearly publication run by LJMU Fashion Communication students to explore key issues in fashion and the things that will face them as they emerge into the industry. We were challenged to create articles and layouts for the publication of the 3rd edition. These articles focussed on two key themes, the first being fashion and technology, working with Debbie Edwards from F Disruptors to consider the way that this could affect women in the fashion and technologies industries. The second, centres around concept retail in the modern fashion industry, focussing on New York based concept store: Story.
GOL -D
Images submitted for Diversity Now! in association with i-D Magazine and All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. Inspired by the Japanese art of appreciating damage: Kintsugi. In this practise, cracks in pottery and fine china are repaired with gold, making the broken item more valuable than the brand new. This idea has been shown in the broken and wrinkled skin of the model, to remind the viewer that it is the experiences and years in our life that gives us these wrinkles, and they should be valued.
PLEX -US
Video campaign developed for Plexus Cotton illustrating the field to fashion story and making it accessible to a wider range of customers. Targeted primarily at making the cause accessible to governments and emphasising how willing the general public are to engage with the story behind sustainable cotton. The response to the breif took the form of two videos, the first demonstrating the field to fashion story through hand drawn images, and the second showing students actively engaging with the campaign for sustainable cotton.
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Photographic project inspired by the rise of menswear over recent years. Following London Collections: Men boosting the reputation of menswear designers, this project explores ‘the boy’ as universal inspiration. Working with natural light, these images were captured on film with the intention of exposing the grain and mirroring the boy and the disarray of his own space.
Creating a collection of Paul Smith work and play shirts in collaboration with Camille Walala. Paul Smith shirts are known for their exceptional tailoring and quirky detail. The work shirt detailing will draw on Walala’s graphic style and her positivity quotes she uses in her prints - encouragement for the morning routine, and the play shirts will take the same inspiration but be focussed towards an evening wind down. Bright colours and patterns used in unconventional and curious ways will be key. Taking over a space using bright patterns, colours, and bold statements will be a large part of the marketing strategy. I’ve used ambient media in the form of graphic posters I designed as a teaser campaign to heighten consumer awareness of the collection. https://vimeo.com/154991429
PAUL SMITH X WALALA
L E H L Rosie Leggett email: website: instagram: linkedin:
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rleggett123@gmail.com cargocollective.com/rosieleggett @roleggs_ www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-leggett Rosie is a creative, capable and motivated fashion communication graduate from Liverpool John Moores University. Working for companies such as Katie Leamon, Fashion PR Resources and Selfridges Manchester has given her wide ranging expertise in fashion promotion and representing a specific brand identity. Rosie has a proven ability in graphic communication for fashion brands following two years of work with the London Fashion Agency, and her objective is to develop a career in image making for fashion.
www.wearefashion.co.uk
ROSIE LEGGETT Fashion communicator, image maker, graphic designer.
email: website: instagram: linkedin:
rleggett123@gmail.com cargocollective.com/rosieleggett @roleggs_ www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-leggett
Rosie Leggett
Address
Fashion Communicato r
PERSONAL STATEMENT
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1 North Road Gardens Hertford Herts SG14 1NH
Contact
rleggett123@gmail.com 07549021567
WORK EXPERIENCE
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1 SPECIALISMS
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Communication
Creative Direction
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Graphic Design
EDUCATION
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From September 2014 to September 2017. Fashion (Communication) BAhons. Liverpool John Moores University
From September 2013 to June 2014 Foundation Studies in Art and Design. Oaklands College.
From September 2011 to September 2013 Achieved 3 A-Levels grades A*A*A (Textiles A*, Art A*, English Lit A) Simon Balle School, Hertford.
From 2009 to 2011 Achieved 10 GCSEs grades A*-B. (English A, Maths B, Textiles A*) Simon Balle School, Hertford.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
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01 Technical
02 Knowledge
Photoshop
Digital & Film Photography
InDesign
Creative Direction Illustration
Illustrator
Graphic Design Branding & Concept
Squarespace Microsoft Word
Copywriting
Microsoft Powerpoint
Styling
Microsoft Excel
Moving Image Hand Rendered Imagery
Moving Image
REFERENCES
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Ref 1
Paul Owen Senior Lecturer at LSAD p.b.owen@ljmu.ac.uk
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Ref 2
Rosie Davies The London Fashion Agency rosie@thelondonfashionagency.com
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January 2016 - March 2016 | The Bluecoat Gallery Gallery Supervisor Volunteer gallery supervisor at the Bluecoat Contemporary Art Centre. Responsible for artworks by artists such as Rowena Harris, Melissa Gordon, Mary Hurrell, and Natalie Finnermore. Skills gained: Responsibility, organisation, professionalism, customer service, leadership, using initiative.