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January Achievements

As part of starting some New Year’s Resolutions (like everyone does) I wanted to incorporate this within my blog, and what better way than to at the end of each month summarise my positives and achievements as something to look back upon and gage my mind into a more optimistic way of thinking, and January was the perfect month to start this with! I started the month by jetting off to New York with my course mates, a trip I had saved really hard for and wanted to make the most of. I’d previously visited New York twice so on this trip wanted to venture to places I had forgotten about such as Soho, Brooklyn and Chelsea Market. Whilst on the trip I wanted to ignite my love for film photography again, a passion I once was obsessed with but stubbornly refused to let myself enjoy after having the worst summer and not wanting to partake in anything that once gave me creative enjoyment (as dark as that sounds). On this trip I wanted to capture some more natural moments of me and my friends messing around, images I can look back on and remember my feelings in that exact moment. This month I also managed to get placed to work in New York for the summer, something which was a big goal of mine to achieve for this year. Part of this meant venturing to London alone and spending the evening/next day with a complete bunch of strangers. Pushing my boundaries not only meant I got to meet new people but get a place where I wanted to go. To end the month I’ve been on a two week reading break for University which has given me the chance to catch up on some sleep, organise my life and get me reading/watching/listening to topics I might not have previously considered. It’s been a great way to relax and gain useful knowledge. Bring on another hectic month, February.

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My thoughts on Creative Superpowers

I chose to read the book Creative Superpowers as I thought it would be interesting to learn and gain knowledge from a subject that isn’t directly ‘fashion’ related. The tag line on the front cover reads “equip yourself for the age of creativity” and as someone who has always enjoyed being very creative I thought reading this may give me a deeper insight. What I liked about the book is that it’s not written from just one person’s perspective, there is multiple sources from different people from all walks of life. Such as musicians, runners and creative directors. It get’s you thinking about creativity in a different way. A quote I admired from the book was “true learning happens when we value curiosity, investigation, experimentation, research and reflection, all of which are key features in making” I know some of my lecturers have encouraged these processed before and I’m still trying to become more open minded with my own design process and forget all the linear learning we had drilled into us at school, something this book also discusses. Another quote I was fond of read “make things about the stuff you love and the stuff you hate” putting emphasis on the idea that it’s important to just keep making and generating new ideas even if there is mistakes or things you aren’t so fond of, you can learn from them and then carry on and make something else greater.

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The High Low Podcast

Whilst coming back from a small trip to London I thought it would be the perfect time to focus and listen to one of the podcasts I had looked into. I’ve never really listened to a podcast before, so as someone who is a massive fan of watching Youtube and listening to music I was unsure what to expect. I chose The High Low podcast hosted by Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton to refresh my ears. I personally felt that this podcast was easy to listen to and kept me entertained on the journey home (as I do tend to lose focus at times) it was pleasant to listen to something that just sounded like two best friends having a chat. The topics discussed ranged from humorous viral videos such as Baby Shark to more educating topics about Indigenous Tribes which I found interesting and learnt things about. However, like I said previously it felt like you were listening to two best friends talking, this didn’t mean it was mundane. There was points where they’d both perhaps disagree with a point and talk about their opposing views which I feel is something different to your usual nicey nice commentary that’s typically put out there. Listening to what they were thinking and their highlights of the week has inspired me to search around and greaten my knowledge/opinions on things and maybe voice my own thoughts on subjects that aren’t just about fashion on my blog.

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House of Z Documentary

I first came across designer Zac Posen as I was an avid fan of the tv show Project Runway, however knowing very little about him or his designs. Watching the documentary House of Z on Netflix opened my eyes and let me into the world of Zac Posen. I found the whole documentary extremely endearing, including old family video footage and images from Posens younger years. It truly helped you relate with him, as well as painting the picture. I was fascinated by his bold movements and confidence to achieve and be someone at such a young age, an age where people may not take you so seriously. It was also good to see how close he was with his family and how they really helped to start and project his dream, all whilst putting their own dreams on hold. It does though leave you questioning whether working with such close family and friends could (or in his case did) end in disaster. I think it’s important that the documentary showed the negatives in Posens career and the realisation that the fashion industry can just be smoke and mirrors. Watching the fight in Posen to make a comeback really inspired me and even made me slightly emotional at parts, all with the message you should always be true to yourself and follow your own creativity and beliefs.

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Day 5 in New York

Our final day started with a trip to the Fashion Institute of Technology to look around their fashion museum, students work and to hear about the university. Being here really inspired/motivated me to apply for the student exchange in 2nd year, I feel like transferring here would be an amazing experience and something I would thrive off. It was also great to see what students who are there now are doing.

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Day 4 in New York

As our previous days had been pretty jam packed we decided we’d spend this day doing the last bits and bobs. We started by heading back to & Other Stories and Urban Outfitters to buy some things we’d left to last minute. We then visited a range of other shops such as Sephora, Nike, Foot Locker, Forever 21 and Topshop. We then ended the day at MOMA (which by the way is free on Friday evenings, a great tactic to get people to visit). This museum is one of my favourites in New York as I’m more of a fan of modern art compared to places like The Met. 

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Day 3 in New York

We thought we’d try a different location on the third day of our trip so made the walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, which is an amazing place to view the New York buildings from a different angle, and most importantly to get Instagram pictures! After finishing the walk we decided to explore some of Brooklyn (somewhere I’d really like to go back to) we only had a few hours so went to a food market for lunch and mooched around some of the shops. We then visited some more tourist places such as the 9/11 Memorial, The Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station and finished the day by watching the sunset at The Top of The Rock. Slightly chilly but worth it for the views.  

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Day 2 in New York

The second day started with a trip to Soho using the Subway. We headed to the Nike store, all of which are amazing at each location in New York. Filled with booming music, cool lights, and other interior details. Whilst walking we came across The Ordinary store which was like no shop I’d ever seen before. The store was tiny (could have fit in about 5 people max) and was unfortunately locked which I was disappointed about as I’d always wanted to try their products. Next we stumbled upon a building which had been turned into an interactive customer experience, all with the focus on sound and sight. Each room had some form of light in it or sound with the downstairs even having a DJ. The best location of the day (or even the whole trip) was the Glossier Showroom, when walking up to the store the windows were fogged so passers by are unable to see inside, when you walk in you are greeted by some huge pink stairs which lead up to a pink cave like floor filled with mirrors, flowers and lifesize Glossier products. The store was like nothing I have ever experienced before, you couldn’t pick up and pay for items, instead you ordered products from a sales assistant which was sent over to a pick up waiting area where you could see your products coming down from the ceiling. I would recommend to everyone to go have a look around.

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Day 1 in New York

We first started off by exploring Fifth Avenue, a place I’d heard lots about but never really visited when I’d previously been to New York. What caught my eye was the huge & Other Stories store, as a fan of H&M I was curious to go in here and mooch. I instantly fell in love with the interior, consisting of high white walls, green plants and amazing clothing. Even though there was many items I’d have loved to purchase, the majority of it was too expensive so I settled on 3 body sprays as I’m a massive fan of fragrances. There was also a really cool feature in the shop which I’d never seen anywhere else before, there was a large sink in the middle of the shop floor with lots of scented soaps and beauty products. Having these here encouraged shoppers to wash their hands and try the products out (which is what actually led me to buy some things). We also stumbled amongst many other interesting shops such as Louis Vuitton which had a huge advertisement on the side of the building featuring bright colours. Another favourite was the Victoria’s Secret store which had all the actual catwalk costumes worn by the models displayed in the shop. On the top floor they had a runway, a photoshoot area where you can wear some angel wings, and a makeup area filled with the famous VS pink chairs. Lots of time was spent here trying to get the perfect Instagram shot. The rest of the day was spent visiting tourist hot spots such as The Rockefellar Centre, Central Park and Times Square.

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Whilst flicking through my latest copy of Dazed, I was instantly wowed at the beauty of the feature shoot starring Lila Moss. Initially I had no idea who this girl was, or how a 16 year old had managed to be shot by Tim Walker and styled by Katy England, let alone make the front cover! From further reading and research I discovered the model is the daughter of the epic Kate Moss which got me thinking about the question, is it really fair for children of famous figures to get all these amazing opportunities just because of their name and background? Or should they work for it laboringly like other new models? This is a debate I have heard/seen a lot through social media networks surrounding models such as Kendall Jenner, Gigi and Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber. All whose parents are famous, rich, or successful models themselves. I’ve seen voiced that many think it’s unfair for these models to swoop straight in and take the top spots on runways and shoots with very little work to get there (minus their money and a pretty face). Personally I do agree with this statement but also understand that just because these people were already associated with known people doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed stardom, hard work and their appearance will also come into the equation (they just have a bit extra help to get there!). Moving away from this debate though, I really prized this shoot due to the spectacular styling that reminded me straightaway of the movie 13 Going on 30 and the 80′s in general, one of my favourite periods of time because of the music, pop culture, movies and fashion.

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For the final outcomes brief photoshoot our group wanted to focus our shoot around our chosen words: LONE WOLF, ENIGMATIC, ALLURING, and WANDERLUST, as well as our accessory which was a bag. We initially chose this green bag because of the vibrant green colour, but further realised it looks like a fishnet. From this we wanted to play with the idea of surrounding the shoot around fish. A fish itself also represents some kind of wanderlust due to the fact they’re always travelling and on a journey, which is what wanderlust stands for. To represent the lone wolf element of the image we decided to give the model brightly coloured eye makeup that is slightly unusual looking and therefore makes her different. We directed the model to appear as if she’s wanting to buy the fish and this is what signifies our alluring word, as the fish itself are alluring to the model. The definition of enigmatic is something quite difficult to understand and puzzling, and at a first glance I think that’s what the whole photoshoot is, it’s a bit random and to an outsider a bit crazy. The final thing that we wanted to include in our image was to wrap the model in a clear plastic bag, to make it almost seem as if she’s an object wrapped up herself by something that is damaging the fish industry.

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Tank Magazine kindly came and did a talk for students at NTU, it was interesting to get some insight into the magazine from their Editor Thomas Roueche and Creative Director Sohrab Golsorkhi. Them coming meant we got to a learn a bit about the history of Tank, what goes on throughout a creative day, who they’ve worked with and who in general they are. As someone who in the future dreams of working for a magazine such as this, it was great to interact with them. Everyone also got a free anniversary copy of the magazine as well which I was really happy about as I’ve never had a physical copy of the magazine before.

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Manish Arora - Spring/Summer 2019

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Vivienne Tam Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear

New York Fashion Week

source:TheImpression.com

Photo/Imaxtree

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Today I visited Notts Zine Fest at Rough Trade to discover some zines and prints by independent creatives. Going by myself pushed my boundaries by having an opportunity to network with people I’d never met before. It was great to walk around, listen to talks and I even took part in a collaging workshop which will be featured in their future zine.

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In today’s seminar we were told that we have to incorporate an accessory into our outcomes photoshoot. Our group got a bag which at first I wasn’t too over the moon about as I felt this may distract from the initial ideas our group had previously discussed. After thinking more about it though I started realising ways it can be used to enhance the image, for example in the draft I created above I thought about the idea of a see through bag/briefcase and filling it with some kind of object to make it more visually stimulating. 

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Using Photoshop I created 4 moodboards/trend stories that will influence our outcomes brief photoshoot.