Representation within my project

With my project, I would like to represent avant-garde fashion, particularly as relating to different themes of the human experience. In my edition of the magazine, I’m focusing specifically on the representation of nature and its intersection with fashion, through the clothing the models for my photos wear, but more importantly, the large, floral pieces I’m creating for each model to wear. In total, I would like to use 3 models. The first model would represent sunlight, with a crown crafted of yellow and white flowers, and a loose yellow dress. In the past, the sun has symbolized power and royalty, as represented in King Louis the XIV of France’s wardrobe, Gareth Pugh’s operatic costumes borrowed motifs from Roman mythology with glowing crowns covered in spiky sun rays, meant to represent the sun as a symbol of creation, but also tyrannical destruction.

 I believe this depiction of the sun, while understandable because of the huge role it plays in our lives, is unfair to the role it has in our day to day lives. The sunlight that glances off our eyelashes, the warmth that fills us as we step out of cold buildings, that is the sun I want to represent in my magazine. I want to challenge the depiction of the sun as a ruler, and rather present her as a nurture of the human spirit, as quiet friend to alleviate our troubles. Because of this, when representing the sun in the fashion I choose for my model, I will use lots of loose and thin fabrics, that represent delicacy and free-ness.

A piece from Giambattista Valli’s
fall/winter 2014 collection.

The second model in my project represents creation, specifically the creation of life in nature, like the budding of a flower, or the sapling pushing through the dirt. There aren’t many representations of birth in the fashion industry, however when looking at more avant-garde designers, like, depictions of birth and the early stages of life often take on a bloated appearance, meant to represent pregnancy. An example of this is Rei Kawakubo’s fall/winter 2016 collection for Comme Des Garçons, with the large, structural dresses she put her models in for the first part of the cycle of life. Similarly to my representation of the sun, I would like to challenge these representations of birth by bringing it back to its roots, to the femininity of it. For the shoot, I’m planning on creating a large floral headpiece featuring flowers in different stages of their life cycle, focusing more heavily on buds. This headpiece will be done entirely in pinks and whites, to tie back to feminine qualities, with these color themes continuing into the clothing, similar to dresses from Giambattista Valli’s fall/winter 2014 collection.

The last model in my project represents shadows. Typical depictions of shadows in fashion, and in other forms of media, is as a scary, light snatching entity. The shadows, unlike the light, is not warm and inviting, rather a sign of fear. Most horror movies take place in the shadows because it is when it’s the hardest to see, thus your surroundings becoming the scariest. This is unfortunate because instead, I will be depicting shadows as a friend to the sun, and a mediator for when things are too bright. The sun is lovely, but the shade cools you on hot summer days. The shade hides you, and the shade is not scary, rather a refugee, a safe space. I will be depicting this representation of shadows with a large chest-plates of sorts, built entirely of black roses, and a pair of lense-less glasses with jewels dripping off them. The chest plate is to demonstrate the safety the shade can provide, because though it binds the model, it also protects them, and shields them. The glasses with jewels represent the treasures of the shade, like rare and expensive mushrooms or even just the relief from the hot sun.