Proactive Fashion Art direction Project CSM student

I want to share with you an editorial fashion shoot project one of my students has initiated with my encouragement after spending a week studying art direction for Fashion last summer with me.

She produced an excellent final project and I suggested she take her ideas further and to my delight she has!

Here is her idea .......

The Wasteland

In a society governed by consumerism, the old is left to ruin in a vast Wasteland. Abandoned by this cruel new world, three young girls mourn their exile, as they turn rags to riches and discover beauty in a land of discarded treasure.

by Rachel Neely

She said...

'All the clothes are handmade from waste fabrics - some burlap sacking, a cotton dustsheet and some polythene packaging. Likewise I did all the hair and makeup, was a really fun day, and all my friends doing the modelling really enjoyed it. Only wish I had had more time to make a bigger selection of clothes and some studio lights!!! Had to make do with the overhead lighting in the Warehouse and a reflector.'

I think this is a great idea of Rachel's and to have devised the idea, found the location, designed and created her own clothes for this shoot, styled her friends in look also hair and make - up as well as art directing and taking the photographs is to be applauded. The result is very impressive and will be have been excellent practice for her. She is hoping to get an internship at Vogue next year. I look forward to hearing how she gets on.

London Fashion Week - Jacey Withers

In the exhibition hall at London Fashion week are collected the UKs fashion Jewelry and accessories designers. This year there is as always a large and diverse collection of small and large companies.

What can they they can offer in our commercial mass production world of fast fashion?

The limited edition, bespoke quality of exquisite hand made pieces provides the unique and collectable quality that art buyers have been seduced by for centuries.

However fashion is all about commerce and selling a product to make money so designing for a high street brand is always an attractive option too. There has been many collaberations by top catwalk designers like Stella McCartney with the high street as we know. Top shop pioneered this. This is also the case for jewelry and accessory designers.

One such jewelry designer I admire is Jacey Withers. He has been in business now for ten years.

As well as designing exquisite one off pieces that can be made to order, he has also sold his fox collection to Anthropology, a cool brand aimed at the 30 -45 year old women.

Read the URBN company profile and you will see why they picked a designer such as Jacey Withers for his collection and design qualities - it is very interesting.

Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level is the reason for our success.

The reason for this success is that our brands — Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, and Terrain — are both compelling and distinct. Each brand chooses a particular customer segment, and once chosen, sets out to create sustainable points of distinction with that segment. In the retail brands we design innovative stores that resonate with the target audience; offer an eclectic mix of merchandise in which hard and soft goods are cross merchandised; and construct unique product displays that incorporate found objects into creative selling vignettes. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.

URBN are on the up and as I wrote in a previous blog about Anthropology this store is influencing key people in the fashion industry.

I am going to visit Jacey Withers this Friday at LFW to see his new collection. He has a studio in Shacklewell Lane in Dalston London which he shares with a collection of other British design talent.

Magazine Sales good despite down turn

I love Vanity Fair, the covers are always brilliant....

See the article below about UK magazine sales. Interesting that Mens magazines have seen a dip in sales but fashion and lifestyle magazines for the ladies are up!

Britons kept buying magazines to cheer themselves up despite the recession, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation today.

75.3 million titles were sold in the second half of 2009 — exactly the same number as a year earlier — unlike in America where sales fell 2.2%.

Women's fashion and lifestyle monthlies did well as a sector, up 4.7% on a year ago. Women's weeklies rose 2.9%.

Hachette Filipacchi's Red and Harper's Bazaar from National Magazine Company both announced record circulation.

But men's lifestyle magazines continued a long-term trend, down 4.4%. Bauer's Zoo slumped 30%, stablemate FHM tumbled 15% and IPC's Nuts dropped 24%. Even upmarket GQ fell 7.7%.

Technology, Hollywood glamour and satire proved popular. The new British edition of technology mag Wired showed there is demand for a print title from a digital audience as it posted a debut of 48,000.

Vanity Fair posted record-breaking circulation of 102,000, up 1.2%. Private Eye's sales rose 3.4% to 210,000 — its highest level since the last recession in 1992 — and The Oldie shot up 14% to 36,000.

But The Spectator suffered an 8.9% annual drop to 70,000.

Some magazines enjoyed big increases thanks to “multi-bagging”, a strategy where publishers sell several titles together but are allowed to count each one individually for circulation purposes.

Richard Desmond's celebrity title Star saw the biggest rise, up 84% on the previous year, to 492,000 partly thanks to selling discounted copies.

Britain's best-selling magazine remains TV Choice with a circulation of 1.3 million.

Kevin Hand, chairman of Hachette Filipacchi UK, said the recession showed that “high quality titles that are markedly different to the competition continue to deliver attractive audiences for advertisers and profitable businesses for publishers”.

Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chief executive of the NatMags, added: “The market is beginning to recover.”

by Gideon Spanier

Dakota Fanning was face of Calvin Klein in 2006

Here is Dakota in Teen Vogue - she has new roles in new moon and the runaways, A face to watch......

The Secret Life of Bees - Inspirational styling and directing

Books and Film can provide fashion art directors/ fashion Editors with a wealth of ideas and inspiration.

'The Secret Life of Bees' was released in 2008. It is a wonderfully uplifting film set in the time of Summer in 1964 Southern America where the civil rights act was signed and just taking effect in a reluctant sector of the white community. Lily Owens the main character played by Fanning carries a huge and overbearing sense of guilt from a tragic accident that happened when she was a toddler. Ten years later it comes to a head when the disturbed adolescent is unfairly punished by her father. She leaves home with her black nanny and on a hunch she heads towards a place her mother went to visit when she was young. She never looks back.

Dakota Fanning was the face of the designer's campaign in 2006 at the age of 13! Do you remember her in the classic Steven Spielberg film War of the Worlds?

This film based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd and directed by Gina Price won best independent film in 2008.

The reason it is on my blog is firstly it is beautifully styled, secondly the message is aspirational and relevant to today more than ever. Fashion shoot wise or brand image wise a multi racial message that goes beyond the cliches of Benetton could be adopted by many brands without fear of politicization - America has a black president and glamourous first lady.

This film is a classic and the message is about forgiveness and reconciliation, both on a personal and political front. It is up lifting not preaching.

Pierre Dal Corso

Here are examples of his work as chosen for the Candy Floss fashion trend Editorial shoot. To be shot on Location on an English beach please see details below with concept idea board. These images from Pierre dal Corso's portfolio reflect the mood and feel the Art Director has chosen him to achieve. Imagine this on a beach with the wind blowing through the girls hair with more colour detail of the clothes coming through and an interesting set of new fashion forward images appear. Visualize in the camera image depth of field the sea and sand with perhaps candy colored beach huts and the model/s in focus. The cropping choices will help tell this simple lifestyle fashion trend story.

My take on an Editorial shoot for the trend 'Spring Bling' 2010

A. Summer Bling concept idea - showing detail and at the same time creating the mood for the trend -

B. Pose and Cropping setting mood showing detail

Take a look at board A Kate Moss models here at her best - totally natural in her mood and response to the camera. The shoot looks like it took place at dusk or as the sun came up in the morning depending on where in the world it was taking place. The lighting catches the sparkle of the clothes and kate makes them look so easy and great to wear. These shots would set the scene perfectly on a web site to reflect this Spring Bling trends commercial viability in a summer holiday context making it aspirational.

Board B is an example of how by cropping your shots tight you can maximize the detail of the clothes and at the same time create a really interesting image that has impact and pulls you into what is happening setting the mood.