Fashion Day 3

Today our task was to create a final garment which would be worn and photographed at the end of the day.

I decided to refine the skirt design I made on day 1 as I think it worked very well. I loved the shape and volume of the garment- it was almost like a wedding dress. I could imagine it being worn in an environmental portrait in the middle of a field or other open expanse- the feathery, layered quality of the skirt would blend in with the surrounding grass.

As this had to be wearable I started off by making two bands to hold the garment up on the mannequin, one for the waist and one for the chest. I used the same process as the first day to create the pieces for the skirt- I then attached each piece to the waist band using staples. I made sure to make a good number of pieces to give the skirt enough volume to create the look I was going for. Next I cut small pieces of paper out to cover up where I had attached each of the skirt pieces to neaten it up a bit.

I then decided to get rid of the chest band, I had initially thought of making it into more of a dress but then felt that the skirt would work well without any extra bits- keeping it simple.

My model was Qandeel who was very cooperative despite the skirt being much too girly for her liking! Whilst taking photos of my garment I also took photos of Qandeel’s dress on Evangeline as she couldn’t take the photos herself. Evangeline was also wearing her crown.

I was quite pleased with how the photos turned out even though Qandeel was perhaps not the type of person I had intended the skirt to be worn by- Evangeline would have actually been more like what I was looking for but obviously she was modelling Qandeel’s garment already. I reckon if I did something similar in future I would make sure to spend more time thinking about the model I would pick (and asking in good time before everyone is taken).

My favourite photos were when Qandeel and Evangeline were sitting in the circular windows- I love the super-soft backlight you get from the large light sources. It was especially interesting when facing away from the windows and light would fall on each side of the face but would leave the centre in darkness- this helped define the curvature of the face better and helped separate the subject from the background.

 

I have to say I quite enjoyed the Fashion week even though I don’t have any particular interest in following the pathway myself. There were many concepts and processes we went through that I felt I could apply within my photography and other work. It also gave me a bit of an insight into the fashion industry which will be useful as being a photographer I will inevitably be working with people from the fashion industry during photoshoots in future.