Fashion: Constructed Image: Process of Visual References

We began creating mood boards based around the category of "Film" during the first week of having the assignment. These depicted scenes of films we admired the lighting choices of, examples of film noir, some of Tim Walker's fashion sets, strange and interesting rooms, the theme of exploration which particularly interested Joe Earley, photos of collections I found particularly interesting and some elaborate and even gothic make up styles. Generally, aesthetics we desired.

We displayed these mood boards and talked about them as a group. We discussed going for a similar look to the rooms in the last mood boards - we liked the extravagance and the vibrant colours. We also like Tim Walkers fashion influence upon our mood boards and thought we could work with something like this.

However, upon having differing opinions we began to talk about a set split between a modern and colourful look and a more subtle traditional feel. One of the suggestions was creating a room directly split in half, each half showing a very different picture as well as the model being styled very differently on each side of the body. Two things came from this: the idea of duality, and a reference (Dark City) dealing with the notion of two opposites residing together.

Due to this influence, we then narrowed down our ideas and came up with revised mood boards depicting the psychological aspects of films which also exhibited the idea of duality such as Blue Velvet, Donnie Darko and Fight Club. We also started thinking about the American Dream after exploring films like Blue Velvet and American Beauty thinking about the notion of duality within them.

 

After this we decided to work with the idea behind the American Dream and focus on the facade behind it. How everything seems perfect but behind closed doors it is a very different story. We thought about what would be involved in our set f we went down this route. We decided fairly early on that we would build a dining room, and have a female model who would be the housewife looking after the home. We created more mood boards from this point focussing more on fashion and character and also the period of the 50s and what the home would look like in this decade. The look of the model became important as we decided we wanted a false look; doll like and awkward.

After this we considered the composition of our photograph and what would be included. Originally we wanted a whole family around the table. However we realised this would cause more difficulties due to sourcing the right models and especially because children would be involved as well as possibly crowding the image.

We then considered the use of mannequins to reinforce the awkwardness and doll-like look to contribute to the false perfection behind the concept of the American Dream. From this we ended up researching the aesthetics of the Nuclear Towns designed for experimentation and analysis of the effect of nuclear bombs in which mannequins were used.

These are what we used as our final visual references to achieve the right aesthetics for our concept having developed from all the influences we had from the beginning and honed in on what we felt was strong. We tried to make our set look like a real home, just as the nuclear homes were designed t seem real and why mannequins were placed within. Having been unable to source a mannequin we directed our model to seem fake, like a doll or a mannequin with awkward limbs and a strange posture with a distant gaze.

As well as this, we wanted to involve the outside with the interior and we used these photographs as inspiration and references for creating a similar look in our set with the juxtaposition between this strange occurrence - sand entering the house from the desert with what is seemingly normal and everyday life for the housewife.

Fashion Constructed Image: Progress

Concept summary: The dark side of the American Dream.

After having many meetings about our narrative and the construction of our set, our concept has developed further towards the breakdown of this perfection.

Changes we have made:

• Rather than use a nuclear family in our set in the sense of a mother, father and two children, we are taking this into the nuclear homes context where there is the notion of destruction and futility.

• We thought about the use of mannequins rather than real people to make up the family but having not been able to source any and and testing how our set build would look with 4 characters, we realised this looked too crowded and took away the desired simplicity.

• We originally decided to build and shoot a clean, simple set. Now we are considering the incorporation of sand into our set blowing in from the desert outside. This will tie in this perfect American Dream with the nuclear towns built only for one purpose.

• We have decided to involve a window and an open door in our image to provoke the feeling of looking in and also to contextualise our photo.

Fashion: constructed image - Our Concept (updated)

Originally written by Joe Borsos.

For our constructed image we decided that we wanted to look at the element of duality. We started with this idea so that we could construct a more complex narrative to portray interlaced binary opposites. This lead us to construct our narrative around the ‘American Dream’.

The concept of showing this idea of a duality to the American Dream, is to use the stereotypical signifiers of the ‘perfect American lifestyle’ but our narrative would subtly also portray the extreme ‘dark side’ to this concept of ‘American Perfection’.

The visual focus of this shoot will be tailored predominately to the 1950’s America. We made this choice as the high point of the American Dream and it’s most iconic propaganda campaigns are post world war II, starting in the late 40’s and 50’s.

Our set build will be of the typical 1950’s family dining room, as the dining room is the heart of the family life. It is where the family meet every day, to share their home cooked meal and bond together.
Looking at the concept of ‘Blue Velvet’, there is the idea that behind the white picket fence, past the perfect mowed lawn, there exists an incredibly dark and twisted life that is hidden from the world behind this mask of consumerism.

Our narrative will look at the American mother, as the mother is the one that keeps the house clean and in perfect order and prepares the meal to hold the family together. Our perfect American mother however, will be replaced by a lonely woman gone insane and delusional through her obsession with the ‘American Dream’; desperately attempting to pursue this. She has set up the full family dining room ready for dinner but she has no family. She has masked herself and life in the products of the American Dream to the extent where even her skin and posture will appear fake, and constructed, to show a loss of the human side to this consumerists’ dream.

Looking at other films like ‘American Beauty’, ‘The Truman Show’ and ‘Fight Club, we wish to take their concepts of obsession with possessions, with the material objects, and in this action the possessions consume the consumer, and they lose sight of meaning in their self identity until they are no longer human. Another visual and concept film reference is 'Donnie Darko' for it's physiological aspects much like that of 'Fight Club'.

We will move away from the concepts of photographer’s like Gregory Crewdson and take elements of the lighting concepts of Finaly Mckay, where everything is lit meticulously to eliminate all shadows, making the person appear plastic.