Wax Work Will

I know this really isn't going the way the rest of the blog is going but i found this and i just had to put it on the blog, as i was checking today's news on my emails, i saw this... wax work Will, its a wax work of Prince William which will be exhibited in the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, the wax work of Prince William is called 'Engagement', its the famous photograph of one of the many when Kate Middleton and Prince William got married, the wax work is just of Prince William and has a replica of Kate's engagement ring attached to his arm so fans can have their photo taken with the Prince and that famous engagement ring!

It would of been really nice if this had been exhibited before our photo shoot as we could of taken inspiration from different Wax Work poses as this one of Prince William is rather comical.

Prince William's Wax Work and a fan with the Engagement ring on.

Winter 2012 Trends

These trends i found in view magazine, relate to our photoshoot the best, the first trend i have researched is called Curve Trend, this trend consists of pastel, pale and neutral colours. Key words for this trend are... Voluptous, Fleshy, Textured, and Fresh. This trend really relates to our royal luxourious photo shoot.

Soft, Sensual, smooth, muted neutrals and rich warm browns. Raw unpolished surfaces, curve is all about creating comfort and relaxation. Durable surfaces will be used for this trend, and soft furnishes, such as Neoprene and Latex.

Here are some images that reflect this trend,

The next trend i looked at was called Afrika, this related to our shoot as its really bold and bright, and we had this idea of not to conform with our photoshoot as this trend is so out there. The trend is Saharan Africa inspired, the colour palette is rainbow bright, bold rhythmical colours. Art deco is interpreted into this trend, with lots of pattern and embellishment. Key words are, new heritage, positive, hip, cool, soft afro shapes, beautiful bold fabrics.

Here are some images to represent this trend,

Amanda

Hair and Make up Ideas

Here are a few hair and make up ideas we could use for the photo shoot.

As our inspiration has filtered down from this film and Marie Antionette doesnt want to conform, i decided to look at the films hair and makeup, the hair is up, big and very Queen like. The makeup on the other hand is very simple and natural with just a splash of red on the lips.



This makeup is totally like our ideas the original queen inspiration is there, but with a twist. Bold hair and Makeup and really out there.



I really like this as its a beautiful image but really plain and simple.

                                                                            Amanda

Trend

Spring/Summer 12 Trends

Modern Crafts

This s/s trend consists of tassels and shimmering fabrics. Designers opt to use old traditional textile ideas such as crochet and applique to add a lot of texture. This trend is all about garments that look expensive, the trend has a hint of boho effect, these pieces are handmade and are very elegant and expensive. The main colour palette consits of browns, neutrals and pastel colours. Very earthy original colours. Designers who have created garments for this trend include, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, Versace and Roberto Cavalli.

Roberto Cavalli

Smart Sportswear

Sleek, glamorous, shimmering garments, when it comes to this Smart Sportswear trend. This trend consists of see through fabrics, boy sport shorts and bandeau bra's. The main colour palette of the trend is black and white with a hint of grey, i think this trend would work really well for a photo shoot as the image of the Queen on English money is black and white, this trend is really smart and sophisticated just like the Queen.

Designers and brands who have created garments for this trend are Jonathan Saunders, Pringle of Scotland, Nicole Farhi, Jaeger and Richard Nicoll.

Isabel Marant

White Spirit

This next trend is about precision, perfection, and beautiful tailoring. The trend is one colour palette-White. The neutral colour palette of white is not girly at all, the trend is very clinical and pure. With beautiful evening gowns to shift dresses this trend is a perfectionist. Brands and designers included in this trend are Topshop Unique, Michael Kors, Altuzarra and Pringle of Scotland.

Topshop Unique

Tangerine Dream

As most of the trends i have looked at are very neutral and pastel colours, i found this one and thought it was perfect to liven up this trend section. The colour palette of this trend is orange and bright! The trend consists of dresses that are very bright and bold orange, which are then teamed with blue accessories or shoes, to take away from the boldness of the garments. The designs are daring and is said to be only worn with tanned and toned legs. I do really like how 'out there' this trend is. Designers such as Cacharel, Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel and Christian Dior have all created designs for this trend.

Cacharel

Colour Shock

Lady-like dresses and elegant, sophisticated designs with a neon twist. A colour shock! Rich fabrics are included in this trend such as luxe taffeta and duchess satins. I really love this trend, its totally like our idea for our photoshoot of the idea of the Queen an iconic figure and putting a modern day twist on it. This neon colour palette could be used for our photoshoot inspiration. creating the image original with hints of bright, bold colours. Designers who have created garments for this trend include, Miu Miu, Christopher Kane, Giles, Paul Smith and Jason Wu.

Christopher Kane

Accessories Trend-Skinny Belts

Neutral, pastel colours are the main palette of this accessory trend. All of these skinny belts are leather and can be worn in many ways. Designers sporting this accessory trend are such as Chloe, Fendi and Nina Ricci. I really like this new accessory trend its really simple, but very effective to an outfit.

Chloe

Amanda

English Money Notes through the years

Below is a selection of different English bank notes, through the years. We can see the change in style, and how they have moved with the times, over generations. But one thing never changes, the iconic image of the Queen.

One Pound Note

Five Pound Note

One Pound Note

Half 1970s 20 Pound Note and a current £20 Note

I really like this idea of combining the old and new note, its a really nice balance, you can see the similarities in the notes but also the subtle changes and i think the combination works nicely. On our photo shoot maybe we could do a very modern image used on a very old note to have that nice balance.

Amanda

Photo Shoot Ideas, Inspiration and Influences

Photo Shoot Ideas

Money Dress
I really like this idea of the whole dress being made out of money, its a beautiful image and really elegant. Its a really nice take on the original queen being on the note, maybe our model could wear something like this, with a big exaggerated crown on.

Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols were the punk rock band that came together in 1975, under the management of Malcolm Mclaren, the Sex Pistols were responsible for the initiation of the Punk Movement. Even though the band were only together for 2 and half years with only 4 hit singles, the Sex Pistols are said to be one of the most influential bands of all time. The band were very controversial, and their last hit song 'God Save the Queen', was the most controversial, trying to convince the British Public not to conform to what was right and 'normal', the Sex Pistols had t-shirts made defacing the original image of the queen. I really like their courage to try and break the mould, whether their intentions were right or wrong, is a personal opinion but they are still talked about today. I think we could get a lot of inspiration from the t-shirts and the Sex Pistols intentions trying not to conform. We can use the original queen image and use inspiration from this, and put a spin on it and bring it up to speed of the modern world.

Vivienne Westwood

Whilst the Sex Pistols began to become a big hit, Vivienne Westwood was inspired by this Punk Movement and created collections based on this era, this movement became a big part of Vivienne Westwood's fashion career. Vivienne Westwood was inspired by Scottish culture and used elements of this in her collections, using tartans, leather, PVC, spikes, this era really made Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm Mclaren, and they are still talked about today.

Marie Antoinette

In 2006 the film starring Kirsten Dunst 'Marie Antoinette' became a hit movie. Based on Marie Antoinette, iconic French queen and Austria's Archduchess, the film follows her marriage at 15 to Louis XVI and her reign at 19. The film is targeted for a younger audience as the retelling of the Queen is fun and eccentric, this film is definitely an influence for our photo shoot. Marie Antoinette is liked by the French public at the start of her reign, but towards the end they began to think she was promiscuous, and wanting attention off the French public, her personality could inspire our photo shoot. 

The original Marie Antoinette

The Film Marie Antoinette

YouTube Clip of the film 'Marie Antoinette'

The Trailer

Marie Antoinette Trailer


YouTube Clip of 'I Want Candy' Scene

I saw this clip and it really inspired me and i think will really inspire our photo shoot, its the rebellious streak Marie Antoinette has, fun, young and having all she wants because she can, i think this clip could really influence our photo shoot as its definitely the direction we all want to go in.

Marie Antoinette 'I Want Candy'.

Amanda

The Most Iconic Image of all time?

When thinking of iconic imagery many examples came to my mind this photograph though, has to be one of the most iconic images of all time, and will be for many years to come.

Its the classic image of Princess Diana sat in front of the Taj Mahal, pictured alone, the photograph of Diana was taken in February 1992. The photograph was widely interpreted as Princess Diana's solitude.

This bench where the Princess once sat in 1992, has now become famous, when visiting the Taj Mahal, many tourists que for hours to be pictured just like Diana was, on this very bench.

                                                                                 Amanda

Icons in Fashion, Time, Music and Art

Icons in Fashion


Liz Hurley Safety Pin Dress
This dress made Liz Hurley a household name on the red carpet when photographed at film premiere 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' in 1994, photographed with Hugh Grant the Black Versace is still iconic to this day. The dress worn by Miss Hurley was a clever move by Versace as the garment was such a hit, it not only publicised her as a Model and Actress to the public, but also promoted the Versace label very nicely. Choosing Liz Hurley or any celebrity to endorse your product must be picked carefully, as it could go two ways, so choosing the right person is vital.

Alexander McQueen- Somerset House Exhibition 

The Bridegroom Stripped Bare

Last year i visited Somerset House in London and the exhibition called Fashion Revolution, which was amazing, it showed how fashion has revolutionised itself, and changed so much from just being a flat 2d image on a piece of paper to moving fashion films and the world of digital fashion. This part of the exhibition showing Alexander McQueen at work, which is very rare to have footage of was my favourite, the fashion film exhibited McQueen at what he does best cutting and draping onto the mannequin, in this case the Model. This fashion film shows Alexander McQueen, at his best making us appreciate his work for many years to come as he is such an iconic figure in fashion.

Youtube Link Below.

The BrideGroom Stripped Bare Fashion Film

Fashion156 Gareth Pugh & Nick Knight

A/W 09

When I visited the Fashion Revolution Exhibition at Somerset House, there was also a range of Fashion Films, created by designers which had collaborated with Nick Knight. I saw this one made by Nick Knight and Gareth Pugh which is also featured on their website Fashion156, but i absolutely loved this fashion film, it was one of my favourite the music along with the models poses works so well, some of the music is used from the film Psycho, the model has great presence in this fashion film and the music with it has you in a trance, whilst making the garments looking wonderful! Some of the poses could work for our photo shoot, there so simple but made to look so effective. 

Youtube Link Below.

SHOWstudio Gareth Pugh A/W 09

Christian Dior New Look 1947

The New Look which revolutionised fashion in 1947 created by Christian Dior, was a 'New Look' for women who were usually used to the same monotonous, clothing worn day in day out. Dior was very clever, he used fabric from the war to create this new 'trend' as money was not around, Dior didn't just create new clothing he created a whole new silhouette for women, he made them look sexy, giving women a waistline and fitted clothing he revolutionised the way designers made their clothes from then on. The New Look came at just at the right time for women when they had been through all that brutality and hardship this was a new lease of life for women to feel good.

Icons in Art

The Scream painting Edvard Munch 1893

This painting is most famous by Edvard Munch, the painting was inspired by Munch when the sky turned lots of different colours one day, when he was with friends, the painting is also inspired by himself in the painting there is someone leaning on a fence screaming, when he saw the multicoloured sky, he lent on a fence and said he felt extremely tired as if that nature had made him feel this way.

L.S Lowry

L.S Lowry is iconically known for his minimalistic paintings with never any real detail on the faces or the people used. L.S Lowry is more of a landscape painter with focus on the bigger picture, i really like his paintings for the simplicity and the softness about them. Lowry's paintings are quite childlike, i really like that about them.

Icons in Music 

The Beatles

The Beatles are still known and talked about to this day and probably will for generations to come, a band of the 60's many artists are inspired by them and their work.

Madonna

Just like The Beatles, Madonna is a legend not only in music though but also fashion, with many young women of the 80's wanting to look and dress like her, she created her own trend and still to this day is always out their with her outfits. Madonna through her time has always been very controversial, whether it was her music in the 80's, or her sense of style now, one thing for sure is she is always going to be talked about.

Amanda

Iconic Imagery

I have begun researching some iconic imagery and art work, the ones i have chosen to publish on to the blog are the ones that i think i can get alot of inspiration from, the images also reflect the era and have alot of meaning behind them. I have chosen a selection of imagery we can choose a final one from, some are fashion photographs and some are iconic paintings. I think either choosing inspiration from a fashion image or painting could work, as if we use the paintings for inspiration, we can take our own spin on it and recreate it as a fashion photograph, where as if we use an original fashion image we can use elements of inspiration to create the final look.

This painting is by artist Eugene Delacroix, and is called Liberty leading the people, the painting signifies the July revolution in 1830. The woman stood on top of the bodies is personifying Liberty, and holding the coloured flag of the French revolution.

This fashion image for Yves Saint Laurent is by photographer Helmut Newton. In a documentary british photographer Paul Rankin recreated 7 images that changed fashion and this was one of them. The image above is the original by Newton, in this photgraph he grasps the sense of fashion and location and makes it work for what was around in this era. The image was taken in 1975 with Yves Saint Laurents Le Smoking Tuxedo for women used on the model, this was the first time this was noticed in fashion as the garments are so minimalstic.

This image is by Andy Warhol in 1963, and is called Eight Elvises the image is so iconic because Elvis was a legend and the way this image portrays Elvis works really well, with them being close together on the right side. I really like how its the same image and not different ones aswell.

This painting is by Gustav Klimt in 1907, this is one of Klimts most iconic paintings and i really like how abstract and calm the colours are. The painting is made up of five canvases which i thinks a really nice idea as you could move them around to create another image.

This painting is by Pablo Picasso, in 1932. This image was called the lost picasso as it was never shown to the public for 60years and now its one of his most famous.

This image is my favourite by Richard Avedon and is called Dovima and the Elephants. I love the positions of the Elephants and how elegant and poised the model looks the white sash brings out her pose. This image works so well in black and white, and the pose of the model and the elephants combined bring the photgraph together and compliment this.

Amanda