CRITICAL REVIEW/ Final Major Project

 

Student Name: Keisha Gaspar Pathway: Fashion Promotion

 

FMP Title: Glorifying your sins

 

To be handed in alongside your FMP hand-in

 

1. Briefly describe the context of your project and how you used a range of critical perspectives and approaches to initiate your idea.

I am promoting a launch for Mugler’s newest collection in spring/ summer 2020, and the theme is the seven deadly sins. To understand Mugler’s brand, I wrote a critical analysis in my blog of how Mugler is doing currently under Casey Cadwallader, and I created a problem for myself to solve by approaching it with researching my customer and what they want to see.

2. Describe how research, analysis and evaluation helped you to feed ideas and develop concepts?

It has helped me find my customer; for me, I was struggling a lot on finding my customer as I felt that they would be pretentious to talk. I went to Fashion Monitor to see the general demographic for Mugler or a brand similar to Mugler, but the information they provided did not make sense, so my final option was to use LSN tribes that have a range of luxury customers. I found that the anti-luxuriant customers were the best fit with the concept of my topic, and I create myself a customer profile to guide me my customer’s wants and needs.

3. What specialist skills and methods did you use to realise your project?

When responding in my sketchbook, I use my skills in illustration and collage to understand my research findings and my references from art and fashion. The methods I use to see how the final outcome can look like is through mood board, styling and photography.

4. How did you integrate practical, theoretical and technical understanding to solve complex problems within your FMP? Please use examples.

Usually, I talk about my problem-solving in my blog and the progress such as for photoshoots I have made to see my mock-up of what the final outcome can look like, and create another photoshoot that has a better understanding of the image with visual research of a stylist, set design and photography and document it in my blog. An example of a problem solving was this photoshoot inspired by Kristen Hatgi Sink in the start, and I thought it wasn’t much of an impact, so I made another shoot that involves with a model from the influence of Pam Nasr set design in the film ‘Clam Casino’. This practice was better than the original I have done as it shows a better understanding of my context.

5. What systems/ tools did you use to plan your project and how effective were they to organise and develop your work?

Before I create a shoot, I create a concept board that tells me what image I am trying to develop through a cohesive colour scheme and models that has one image for an artist, styling, photography and theme reference, and one image that reflect the model look. When planning a shoot, I create a shoot plan for styling and photography, so it is a more straightforward process of what image I want to create. I sometimes do tactile shoot plans that include: theme, location, styling, make-up, model poses and photography.

6. What type of evaluative and reflective records did you keep? How did this help you develop your learning? Please use examples.

I prefer to discuss my own self-reflection in my blog such as my tutorials and critiques from tutors,  these help focus on what area in my sketchbook I need to work in to proceed a better outcome in my project. When researching references in art, literature and fashion, I would create a blog that evaluates their work like I did in Tracey Emin A Fortnight of Tears and discuss how her work would be useful for my project from her exhibition.

7. Who is your intended audience? Describe techniques and methods you used to communicate your idea to them.

They are the anti-luxuriant millennials who are obsessed and work with technology in their daily lives as they believe in a brighter future of commercialism in today’s society. My customer is Paty Abrahamsson who pushes the limits of what is acceptable with her mawkish sense of humour. I want to sell Mugler towards this group with the use of Virtual Reality as I created Mockups and experimentation as they like to be active users. However, I had problems with creating a virtual space, so I moved to a promotional campaign with interactive features that fit them as a customer such as QR codes.

8. Overall summary: Describe the key points to take away from this experience. In what ways will your approach to creative production change in future as a result

I would take away from this course is how we create customer profile through target market research and, websites such as LSN and Fashion Monitor. To have a customer profile is knowing what the customer wants or needs from the brand. I do want to improve my use of time-management as I am not passionate about my subject that I leave it to the last minute.

 

 

#viralmarketing

Mock ups

My initial idea for my final outcome was a Virtual Reality show that shows case Mugler’s new collection or a performance show of the seven deadly sins with styling that represent Mugler. My customer is passionate about technology and how they like

My first mock-up was my tryout in making a Virtual reality space with the use of Web Styly from Stream. I was introduced to this application through my classmate, creating a virtual space of their own mock-up of their magazine.

Before I made the virtual space, I had mock shoots after mock shoots of styling and set design of the seven deadly sins. In the time frame, I thought of only doing one of the crimes after an attempt of multi-tasking two or three vices, I have chosen gluttony as I have two topics that have developed research of styling, photography and set design references.

I have heavily edit the shoots as I was unhappy with the finished outcomes, so I used photoshop to create sharp contrast photo to use for styly.

In the inspiration from Nick Knight BeatsxEE25 film where he manipulates the photo to crazy shapes, I went to Styly to experiment with this photograph the outcomes, in my opinion, looked really good. It had provocative imagery on how I manipulated the picture.

I did think of combining the element of Bjork Digital where Bjork turned into a moth with artist Andrew Thomas Huang, I did mini-experiments in the start and developed a different one that fits the Mugsufficient.

The final Virtual space wasn’t adequate to be the final outcome even though it fits the customer profile, and there is less time now, so I created a promotion campaign instead like how I said in the proposal that I include a media pack and a PR release. I prefer to create a promotion campaign instead because it will be easier for me and faster to create as I am creating an informative final piece.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the first time, I made the promotional campaign I made it simple to create a fast outcome. I used google slides to be easier for me, but through a crit, Sun, l asked if it suits the customer from the layout so I remade it again with a better set up with a template.

 

I created the media pack through Indesign instead in google slides to be professional. However, when I printed it professionally, the photographs were pixelated, and I had to recreate the package again before the deadline quickly. When I made the cover of the booklet, I thought of doing it like its sci-fi or digital, so I made a glitch art with the brand logo, yet, I felt that by seeing it looks informal so I changed it to be ordinary again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The final product for the media pack includes a QR code to make it interactive for the viewer that leads to an Instagram campaign. I made the images, and the text I wrote is straightforward and informative of the event for the audience.

Sara Shakeel – NOW Gallery + Response

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I am so lucky to see that Sara Shakeel has opened in Peninsula, Now Gallery so I can see her work face-to-face as my primary research. Her exhibition ‘The Great Supper’ holds a display covered in everything glitter and rhinestones. I recognise the furniture, decor and fruits are everyday items you would have in a household, but the things that seem new to me is the complete cover of rhinestones that makes the details luxurious and precious. There was only one thing in the exhibition, which is the table with the food, the objects that are closer to me are the chairs that seem to guard the food and decor on the table. It feels so uninviting as it is so grand and precious to touch, even the spoon and cup that looks provocative but it is just too fragile to look at that it makes you want to avoid it.

I thought of using Sara Shakeel for the theme Gluttony as her work is what makes the concept of glorification which I am trying to achieve in my project.

This is a mini-experiment of a response to my research on Sara Shakeel exhibition in Now Gallery, I wanted to create a reaction that similar to The Great Supper with the food. So, I used fruit and self-adhesive rhinestones for a smooth application. I didn’t cover everything because it was just a quick exercise and I wanted to create an object that is a response to Shakeel and make a 3D scan as a response to Nick Knight work in the BeatsxEE25 film with the seven deadly sins.

 

One sin only – Gluttony

During FMP I thought to myself that doing all seven of the sins in the project is unrealistic as I can’t multitask all seven deadly sins, and in the start, I already had two topics on Gluttony which is eating and volume. I felt comfortable just doing gluttony by itself, and in the future, I would choose a less ambitious topic to look. I did look into Pride and Wrath briefly since I made a mindmap around those in the start and tried to juggle them, but it was hard to manage, so I kept evidence in my sketchbook around those two topics, but I only keep my focus on gluttony.

Anti- luxuriant customer profile

I am changing my customer profile again since the first ones were just not working out and after looking into LSN tribes, I felt that the ANTI-LUXURIANS are a tech-savvy group that fits Mugler who was really into futuristic fashion.

Paty Abrahamsson, 30, pushes the limits of what is acceptable with her mawkish sense of humour.

A project by Madrid-based fashion designer Paty Abrahamsson to promote her Abra collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and sponsored by the Samsung EGO innovation project featured a series of holographic avatars created by renowned artist Claudia Maté. Digital representations of garments from the collection slowly dissolved and materialised on nude 3D models who alternately fell over, burst into flames and transformed into screaming skeletons. So Paty likes to see something innovative since her job consists of new technology in the fashion industry.

Paty is an avid user of technology and has multiple Instagram accounts. She owns an iPhone, Mac desktop computer, iPad, Apple TV, Steadicam selfie stick, hologram display, Lenovo smart tv and Leap Motion controller, and uses them for work and entertainment purposes. Paty owns a virtual reality (VR) headset, reflecting data from LSN Luxury Index, which reveals that about 50% of all luxurious feel confident that luxury brands can create luxurious experiences through digital means such as VR and augmented reality (AR). Paty is passionate about watching dystopian digital world genre films based on her collections of electronics in her household and her job involving with holographic avatars.

She earns between £8,610 ($10,900, €10,000) and £86,090 ($108,700, €100,000) each year from her various projects, regularly travels between France, Switzerland, Germany and the UK to meet with her network of creatives.

This sense of humour is key to Paty’s style. She is as likely to be seen wearing denim Maison Margiela trousers as she is wearing a Google+ puffer jacket, or a Kenzo leather bag as she is a Justin Timberlake t-shirt, or Loewe high heels as she is a pair of Vibram Five Finger trainers or an iBoat cap while steering a luxury yacht.

Paty likes Gucci because they are a key pioneer of the Anti-luxuriant attitude with its playful and experimental approach. ‘It has embraced people who would traditionally be considered outside the luxury industry who wouldn’t be the perfect luxury consumer,’ Pia Stanchina, the former industry manager for the digital acceleration of fashion and luxury retail at Google, tells LS: N Global.

Mukbang shoot

Tuesday 29, I need to prepare myself a shoot plan and concept board. For references in the shoot, I will have set to look like Clam Casino as a connection to mukbang.  For the models, I want to incorporate women in Dionysus feast who are playful and young.

 

After my crit with my tutor, he said based from my sketchbook that he gets the topic but I am missing the essence of glorification; so I looked into this artist Sara Shakeel who puts glitters on everything and I felt that looking at her work that it visually shows what glorification is. In a Forbes article, they asked Shakeel the reason of using crystals and diamonds in her work. Shakeel describes that putting these things in ordinary things makes them look valuable and something to be taken care of, “For example, while junk food is one of my favourite things, I have to control myself, so once in a while when I eat a burger or fries, I see them as being holy, shining and ready to be savoured.”

I need to buy glitter and rhinestones for my interpretation of Shakeel’s work, I need to have fake seafood such as lobster and crabs for Clam casino as well as real foods for the models to eat. For the model look, I need to know what they will dress up as but it needs to refer to Mugler with the sexiness and empowerment.

My preparation for the set design of the shoot, I made fake shrimps out of air-drying clay as a connection to the Clam Casino Mukbang set design with the towering plates, I tried my best to capture how Nasr decorated the table as it looks regal and formal which I want to portray; how I interpreted the set with my budget was using empty shells of mussels with real mussels for the model to eat, seashells are always seen as a luxury that is why I had a mass collection on the table. Also, it was an alternative plan for me since I wasn’t able to get any lobster or crabs for the shoot because it was expensive to buy a real lobster or crab and it is because of the time management as I wasn’t able to buy one online and it will take a while to arrive so I had to deal with mussels and fake shrimp for the decoration. I didn’t want to buy real shrimp because it is expensive to buy.

 

Mugler Resort 2019

I know that my styling is weak and I do need help, but when I was looking into styling research I wanted to incorporate Hunger Magazine and the current Mugler collection, I was looking into the Mugler Autumn/ Winter ’19 collection with the structured blazers. I wanted to include my interpretation of the current collection of Mugler for the styling as I needed a shape that connects to the brand I am representing,  but I also wanted to experiment a bit with the shape for the styling like the use of volume that was in my mock shoot before with the tulles and tutus. Also, with the styling, I felt that I should have had a committed look like I did in my set design. Looking back at my research of celebration of Gluttony, I had this painting of Dionysus where he looked young and regal with the sash and the leaf crown and I tried to potray it in the shoot.

The slideshow shows all of

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Gula: Banquet

In the start of the sketchbook, I wanted to look at the idea of excess eating. Works similar to Terry Richardson Festin editorial with Crystal Renn like how he portrayed a beautiful woman to be grotesque as she eats large quantities of food. The same for Andrew Harrington ‘Your Gluttony is Instant Baked’ editorial, Harrington portrayed a grittier version of the excess eating and the rude mannerisms he evoked from the model poses and the set design aftermath.

 

 

 

3D modelling experiment

As a response to my research on Bjork’s Digital Notget VR, directed by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, presents Björk as a digital moth giantess transformed by stunning masks created by artist James Merry. I wanted to try my best to use 3d modelling software such as Fuse CC to create models. When I was creating a character, my inspiration for look was from the film ‘Clam Casino’ by Pam Nasr. I was looking at ‘Clam Casino’ as it was a link to Gluttony. The film connection to gluttony is from the main character Arcelia Diaz played by Eloisa Santos who’s hobby is the South Korean phenomenon ‘Mukbang’, that centres on a young woman struggling to reconnect with her mother but successfully connecting to thousands of viewers and eaters online.

In this article on the analysis for Clam Casino, they discuss about the foundation behind ‘Mukbang’ and found a “grimmer theory” which was voyeurism, as it’s a predictable result of a culture that centres on “the spectacle”.

 

[This is a model I made in Adobe Fuse 3D]*

 

Pride – Vanity

Narcissism (self-love) – origin, Greek mythology for imagery and to experiment with.

The myth of Narcissus in modern life and art.

The painters Turner and Dali were also inspired by the myth, while poets, such as Keats and Housman, used his example in many of their works.

The Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky created several characters with the mentality and loneliness of Narcissus, such as Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin.

Narcissus – the short film by Norman McLaren, dancers enact the Greek tragedy of Narcissus, the beautiful youth whose excessive self-love condemned him to a trapped existence. Skillfully merging film, dance, and music, the film is a compendium of the techniques McLaren acquired over a lifetime of experimentation.

My interpretation of the film:

When analyzing McLaren’s interpretation of the myth of Narcissus, I will be focusing only on Narcissus acts, for I want to study someone’s depiction of our tragic hero.

The introduction of the dance welcomes the audiences to a young man on the floor, a metaphor for the birth of the protagonist, Narcissus. When awake, the body language is fluid, he moves gracefully as though he sees himself fragile and important. Narcissus smiles when he moves his hands around his chest to his neck, act as if he is in ecstasy. When talking about the cinematography, how they use the lighting in the film reminds me of Greek statues.

---

 

After watching the film, I was inspired by re-creating the story but in a modern setting. Since the demise of Narcissus was from his reflection of him of the water, I wanted to try using a mirror to reflect the story as a mock shoot as a starting point.

I want to create a mock shoot with the inspiration from Mugler’s 1992 fashion collection that had the sense of sexuality in their ready-to-wear for my styling. My plan for the shoot was to create a table set with the still life I made for gluttony that I will in cooperate in photoshop. Sadly, I don’t have a hand mirror so the imagery was not effective as I had to rely on a small mirror, so for next time I need to have a hand mirror. When I have the hand mirror I need to decorate it with imagery of baroque for elegance that goes back to the greek aesthetics to the story of Narcissus.