The Seflie Stick

2014 seems to have been the year of the 'selfie stick'; An object to which allows the vain to capture photographs of themselves from all angles. At first I didn't understand what the craze was all about, I felt that the whole idea of having an extendable 'stick' to attach your phone onto seemed a bit strange, however having received one from my sister as a Christmas present I can safely say I am now obsessed...

The monopod works based on blue tooth so you connect your phone to the mini handheld controller which is used to take the photograph or video. Before having my own selfie stick I felt it was all a bit vain and for the people who were completely self absorbed, yet having used one myself I actually feel that it almost brings people together..everyone gets involved and it's almost like a game to see how many people you can fit into one selfie! I can safely say I am a reformed selfie stick lover and would say its a perfect present for people of all ages, it brings everyone together for a bit of fun whilst allowing you to capture a moment with all involved.

Fashion gone too far?

I was reading my daily dose of the Daily Mail online this morning when I stumbled across this article in the 'Femail' section.

My first thought whilst sitting reading the article was just hoping that my breakfast wasn't going to come back up! The thought of human hair on a pair of shoes is one that whilst entirely unique, is also considerably disturbing. Yet despite how unflattering the shoes may seem, I understand the logic and whit behind designer Zhu Tian's designs. By taking a product (the high heel) to which is usually considered to be sexual and alluring to men and transforming them into something that is grotesque and somewhat 'manly', she is presenting the idea that women do not always wear high heels to attract a males attention so therefore by designing a pair of high heels that will most definitely not be seen as lustrous towards a male she is almost giving women the freedom of being able to wear high heels if they please yet without the unwanted attention from desperate males in the street.

Sourced from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2876052/Stomach-churning-flesh-pink-stilettos-featuring-human-hair-display.html

Final Mood Boards

Overall I am really pleased with the outcome of my two moodboards as I feel that they work really well together to both tell the story of my colour trend and Celine as a brand. The use of the grid format throughout both of the mood boards helps to link them both together whilst also presenting the clean and crisp precision of both the stripped back neutral colour palette and the subdued sophistication of Celine as a brand.

Brand interpretation mood board adaptations

Following on from my colour trend mood board I decided to follow the same journey in the creation of my brand interpretation mood board with using trial and error to get me to achieve my final outcome.

I feel that with the creation of this mood board I found it much simpler to discover what style I wanted to use and what exact images I wanted to include as I had my colour trend mood board to use as a guide during the creation process.

This was my first attempt at creating the mood board. At first I struggled to know what size to make each image. I used this first attempt as a template and tested out lots of different images that I had edited to see which ones I felt worked best within Celine as a brand.

After testing out different images I came up with this as my final template before I added in any text. I liked the use of the darker neutral colours as well as the paler nude colours and how they both worked yet contrasted with one another at the same time.

Following on from my final template I began to add in text to which I felt best described Celine as a brand but also represented my colour trend theme.

After adding in all of the text that I wanted to include on my final mood board, I still felt as if something was missing, so therefore I decided to add in the colours from my colour palette in the white space at the top left of the moodboard. I feel that by adding this it has helped to connect my two mood boards together and  really showcase how Celine presents my colour theme throughout their brand.

Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome of my Brand interpretation mood board for Celine as I feel that it perfectly presents Celine as brand with their strong sophisticated products to which also have an urban and citified edge. The sculptural editing of the images within the mood board I feel also help to showcase Celines use of bold and graphic designs whilst also linking to my Colour trend mood board.

#FCPreflection

Colour Trend mood board adaptations

When creating my colour trend mood board titled 'In the nude..' I created many different versions to which I varied each time in order to get a layout and style that I was happy with for my final version. Here is the journey that I followed before I decided on my final mood board...

With my first attempt at my mood board I knew that I wanted to follow the grid compositional style to which would have a slim white border around the edge as well as around each image within the moodboard. My reasoning for choosing this particular style was because I felt it best fitted in with the simplicity of my colour trend made up of a nude and neutral colour palette and was not too overpowering to look at.

Secondly I started adding text, originally I chose Arial Regular as my font as I felt it would reflect best the Celine logo to which was the brand for my brand interpretation mood board. However after adding the text I realised that it did not work with the aura of my mood board.

Following on from this I then adapted some of the images within the mood board by removing and adding in new images whilst trying to figure out which images I felt best represented my colour trend. I also altered the sizes of images to see whether I felt it worked best with fewer or more images.

After deciding on the final collection of images that I wanted to use in my moodboard, I played around with the spacing between the images and tried to work out the best composition of each image before adding the final details.

 Finally, I added in the text that I wanted my moodboard to include, I decided to not over cram the mood board with too many words and allow it to tell my colour trend story through the images themselves.

Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of my final Colour trend mood board for 'In the nude...' as I feel it represents my colour theme really well with its use of a soft and lustrous colour palette yet with the use of the graphic editing of the images it helps to add a modern and more interesting aura.

Image manipulation using Photoshop

In the process of creating my two moodboards I used both Pixlr (for the more subtle editing) and Photoshop (for the more complex editing). Using Photoshop allowed me to explore more within the manipulation of images and how far you can stretch them to become an entirely new image. 

For this particular image I knew I wanted to somehow merge the 3 colours (black, grey and white) together as I felt they shared the same tonal range that would make for an interesting monochrome mix.

To edit the image I used 2 main tools within Photoshop. To blur and merge the three colours together I selected 'filter' and then' Liquify'. I then used the liquify tool to drag the areas of the image that I wanted to blur and merge together and dragged them to the edge of image one part at a time. 

Following this I then created a new path and used the 'Pen tool' to trace the outline of the image, then by using the paint brush tool I created a border around the image which followed the outline that I drew with the pen tool and coloured it as selected. I repeated these steps 3 times in order to get the 3 borders surrounding the image. I used the pipette tool to ensure that the colour of the outline of the image would be a precise match to the 3 colours of t-shirt shown.

Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome of my image as I feel it represents my colour theme well with its graphic and sculptural shapes as well as the refreshingly unique twist on a classic image of 3 t-shirts.

Image manipulation

I have been experimenting with how I can manipulate an image to fit in with my colour theme without changing the content too much. With this particular image I wanted to focus on taking the colour from a blunt cold colour palette to a warmer and more sensual colour palette. Firstly, I selected the colour grabbing tool and chose to highlight the creased section of the under shorts, this therefore allowed me to be able to pick up on this colour and make it a focal point throughout the rest of the image to give the underwear a more rose gold feel rather than the soft pink.


Following on from this I then chose to slightly blur the image in order to give it more movement. I used the blur tool and created a circumference around the main centre of the image to slightly blur the edges of the image without loosing too much focus.

Finally, I used my main colour selection (the rose gold) in order to create an over lay effect on my image to give it a warmer tone all over rather than having the rose gold underwear against a dull grey background.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of my image as I feel it fits in better with my colour palette theme without being too obviously edited. I also like how the image now appears to have more motion to it where before I felt it was a bit too static.

Muted tones

When looking into the compositional style that I wanted to use for my final mood boards I decided on using the grid style. I chose this particular style as I feel it best represents the clean precision of my colour palette and the graphic detailing of my interpreted brand (Celine). I created a rough example of the type of format that I will be following when designing my final mood boards..

Colour mood board imagery

When looking into possible ideas of editing images for my colour palette mood board I came across the idea of double exposure and overlaying images. Instead of using Photoshop, I decided to have a go on a different photographic software; Pixlr. I selected 5 images from my colour palette selection and overlapped them over the top of the main photograph of a hand with neutral coloured nails. I decided to use a mixture of different areas surrounding my theme of 'In the nude..' I used a mixture of fashion and food/drink to form my over layed image. I then used an effect called 'Ingrid' from the 'Subtle' section of effects. I decided upon this particular effect as I felt it had the most significance with my colour theme as it is static and blunt yet with the help of the under exposed images it helps to show a contrast between the soft airy colours and the deeper grittier colours.

Overall I was pleased with the outcome of this image as I feel it has a lot of depth and texture to it that a single framed image does not. I plan to explore areas of this idea and see how far I can take it.

Victoria's Secret Fashion show 2014

Every year the Victoria's Secret fashion show comes around and leaves pretty much every woman on the planet feeling clinically depressed after watching the magnificently perfect 'angels' with their amazing figures strut their stuff down the runway in fantasy like lingerie, whilst tucking into festive treats loathing over their average figures.

Each of the sultry garments were cleverly designed to flow perfectly with the artist performing. Ed Sheeran's emotional performance of his hit single 'Thinking out loud' saw angels Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio elegantly glide down the runway in exotic inspired famous fantasy lingerie sparkling with subtle contrasting ruby and saphire shades and over the top jewels.



Taylor Swifts performance of 'Blank Space' saw the angels in sickeningly sweet girly lingerie complete with feathers and giant marshmallow inspired pink pompoms. This particular part of the show reflected Taylor Swift as an artist with their interpretation of her good girl next door image.



Pint sized pop star Ariana Grande showcased a fun and flirty hip hop urban edge with her performance of hit song 'Bang Bang' (written and produced by Jessie J). The angels were presenting what appeared to be almost Moschino inspired garments with the crimson pink printed knee high heels and metallic leather jackets. The whole performance was the most fun out of the 4 with the angels appearing to have a care free attitude when posing in silly mimicking poses at the end of the run way.



Hozier performed his single 'Take me to church' with a mystical aura surrounding it. The audience were taken to a cryptic setting with the angels wearing mysterious and enchanting lingerie to which presented a dainty fairytale setting around them. The use of a soft warming pastel colour palette helped to provoke the magical element surrounding the performance.



Overall I feel that this years Victoria's Secret Fashion show hosted in London was one of the best so far. The way in which the brand has moved forward to create a more entertaining show to which seems now more than ever to offer the audience a part of the brand and tell the story behind their products and inspiration rather than just showing off the products by using beautiful models. I feel it was a glamorously magical affair with amazing intricate designs both through product and set design which needs to be recognized.

http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/news/fashion/2014/04/15/victorias-secret-fashion-show-2014-london

Pharrell Willams and Cara Delevingne for Chanel

The Karl Lagerfeld film 'Reincarnation' features pop star and rapper Pharrell Williams and model of the moment Cara Delevingne who star as a pair of hotel workers. They also play the roles of Franz Joseph I and Empress Elizabeth, who come to life from their paintings at night time.

The unexpected duo dance along to 'CC the World' in which was composed and sung by Pharrell Williams as well as featuring the vocals of Delevingne.

Daughter of the legendary Charles Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin also stars as Gabrielle Chanel, whom we see finds the inspiration behind the famous Chanel jacket within the short film.

Both Pharrell Williams and Cara Delevingne are the faces of the Chanel-Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Metiers d'art collection campaign which deputed on December 2nd 2014 in Salzburg.

At first watch I found the short film to be a little confusing and hard to grasp the concept of, yet upon second viewing I found it to be enchanting and full of secret underlying messages.

The film brings together both old and new cultures and eras within the same time frame, we see Williams and Delevingne as historic figures dancing quaintly throughout but then looser and more modernised towards the end. The track itself I feel is very clever, it both presents an eerie and old fashioned rhythm yet with a subtle modernised beat.

The use of Williams and Delevingne together helps to appeal to a younger audience as both parties are big news within their industries at the moment, with Cara Delevingne having just won the 'Model of the Year' award at the British Fashion Awards for the second year running and Pharrell Williams having been awarded with the Best Song of 2014 with 'Happy'.

Overall I feel that Lagerfeld produced film is very clever with its use of historic references and well loved A-listers at presenting the aura that Chanel as a brand evokes; a well known high end glamorous brand with a new lease of contemporary designs.

Street Stylers continued...

Scouted in Nottingham's very own Victoria Centre!

In Vogue- The Editors Eye

The Editors eye is a documentary film which coincides with the 120th anniversary of Vogue takes a look at some of the world's most influential fashion images as conceived by the magazine's iconic fashion editors.

Drawing on Vogue's exceptional archives, the film features behind the scenes interviews with editors who have contributed to the magazine such as, current editor-in-chief Anna Wintour; fashion editors such as Grace Coddington, Tonne Goodman, Polly Allen Mellen, Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, Camilla Nickerson, Phyllis Posnick and Babs Simpson; celebrated Vogue subjects Nicole Kidman and Sarah Jessica Parker and industry icons such as Hamish Bowles; and fashion designers such as Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang (who herself was a former Vogue fashion editor), all of which they share their own personal experiences with Vogue from over the years.

I found The Editors Eye to be a really exciting insight into Vogue during its 120th anniversary, and I found it greatly intriguing to hear from all of the different people who have an input into the worlds most iconic fashion magazine.

Kendall Jenner; the new face of Estee Lauder

The second youngest member of the Kardashian/Jenner clan has been unveiled as the new face of Estee Lauder. The brand announced that they have signed Kendall Jenner to appear in new digital, TV and print advertising campaigns as well as playing an active role in the creating of social media content for Estee Lauder's channels as well as her own.

Jane Hertzmark Hudis, the Global Brand President of Estee Lauder says, "Bridging the worlds of high fashion, entertainment and social media, Kendall is a modern beauty who represents a whole new generation of women who live, breath and share beauty, fashion and life 24/7...She is the ultimate instagirl, and we are excited to leverage her image, voice, energy and extraordinary social media power to introduce Estee Lauder to millions of young women around the world".

Most people have a lot of negitivity surrounding the new campaign girl, saying that it is adding to the "Kardashian takeover". I do feel that Estee Lauder are going against their usual target consumer; the slightly older women, which may ultimately put their usual consumer off of the brand if they change the brand to fit in with the younger generation too much. Yet despite this I can't help but think that it is a very clever move by the brand that will be incredibly effective in bringing what has sometimes been considered a brand for "older women" to a whole new consumer; the younger beauty addicts. Also, I genuinely believe Kendall to be one of the classier Kardashians with her leveled business head and polite and grateful presence; (She says) "It honestly feels like a dream to represent such an iconic beauty brand- it is an incredible honor and quite humbling".

Many people may think that no one will live up to Elizabeth Hurley and her time with the brand, but I can't help but feel that Kendall is a really exciting choice to be the face of their campaign as I feel it will help to attract a new consumer that is slightly edgier but still wants that 'classically beautiful' look.

Object of Desire - The final image

The idea behind my object of desire photo was the idea of bringing the high end designer world back down to earth. I used the imprint of the bag to represent the higher class consumer and the flour to represent the lower classed consumer. The idea of entwining the two together presented the idea of how we establish the two classes from one another; the imprint of the bag (higher class) presents the idea of perfection, every part of the bag, even the creases within the leather can be seen in perfect detail..this presenting the idea of the higher class lifestyle being desirable and perfection. Yet by contrasting it with the crumbling flour surrounding the imprint (lower class) it reflects the idea that the lower class are seen as imperfect and unstable-the two being together therefore were used to present the idea of a class divide.

I decided on this particular image to be my final image as I felt that out of all of the photographs that I took this one had the most texture. I like the way in which the texture of the leather from the bag, the zip and logo are the most prominent features and almost create an illusion for the person looking at the image as the bag has a 3D effect to which makes it look like it is an actual bag. The way in which the flour is crumbling around the imprint of the bag creates a contrast against the soft flour which forms the imprinted bag, I feel like this adds a really nice effect and makes the image more interesting to look at.

I am really pleased with the final outcome for my objects of desire image as I feel it is presented in exactly the way that I had anticipated when planning the idea.

#FCPreflection

Object of Desire - Editing

After collating my images I decided to use Pixlr to edit them. I wanted to keep the editing to a minimum as I wanted to produce a more relaxed and effortless image, therefore the main features of Pixlr that I used to edit my images were the 'auto adjust' tool, as well as playing around with the sharpening tool to which I felt helped to add more texture and depth to the images. I did explore with the different effects that Pixlr had to offer but subsequently decided to keep it more simplistic.

Here are my final edited images...

Object of Desire - In the making

To prepare for my photograph I placed plain flour onto a baking tray and chose some bags that I felt would have the best impact when printed onto the flour.

Where the two Mulberry bags worked well due to their bold logo's, the Kate Spade bag did not work as well as I had hoped, I feel that this is due to the more simplistic logo and the size of the bag.

They're Real!

In the first week of starting Uni there was a freshers fair, despite it taking us 3 hours to get in, we were determined to see what all the fuss was about. Inside it was a free-fall, full of people pushing and shoving to try and get discounted drink flyers and all sorts! Until I came across a beauty stall which were selling the latest issue of Elle magazine and a Benefit cosmetics mascara for only one pound! I couldn't hand them the pound quick enough I was so excited! I came out after not being too fussed about the mascara as it was only one of the small sample ones but after using it for the first time I was obsessed! The way in which the mascara brush is formed helps to add an extra curve and height to your lashes, I'd never really considered my eye lashes to be long before yet after using Benefit's 'They're Real!' mascara I felt like I was wearing false eyelashes all the time, I was amazed! The mascara itself retails for £19.50 which is a little pricey for a mascara but it is definitely worth the money, I feel that it just goes to show that spending that little bit extra on makeup really does show through the quality of the product..no more £1.99 Natural Collection mascara for me!!

Object of Desire

As part of a photo brief, we have been asked to create one image to which we personally feel translates the 'Object of Desire' whether it be through the use of people, places, products or objects.

When looking into possible ideas to what type of image I would like to create for this brief, I was immediately struck by this particular image.

The image shows a Louis Vuitton bag having being imprinted onto a layer of flour. The way in which the designer logo is imprinted onto something so basic such as flour connotates the idea of giving an expensive item a cheap edge. The way in which the logo sits on the flour adds an almost 3D effect which inevitably makes the imprint look like an actual bag. The cracks within the flour surrounding the bag also present the idea that however perfect the designer world may present itself to be, it is perhaps not so perfect after all. I hope to take some inspiration from this image and inject my own ideas into it and see what outcome I can achieve.

John Lewis Christmas campaign 2014

Every year consumers eagerly await to see what new idea John Lewis will come up with for their Christmas advert. Last year we had the bear and the hare, this year we have Monty the penguin to which tells the story of a little boy called Sam and his best friend and toy Monty the Penguin. It is a tale of love, friendship and giving someone the gift that they have always wanted this Christmas.

Following the release of the tear-jerking £7 million TV campaign, sales of the toy version of Monty the Penguin sold in less than 24 hours. After the selling out of these desired Christmas gifts, people began selling them on sites such as Ebay for over triple the amount of money. The two foot tall toy penguin that was being sold in store for £95 was being sold on Ebay for £459, and the smaller ten inch toy that was originally selling for £12 was going for £70! So what exactly is it that makes John Lewis' Christmas advertisements so desirable?

I feel that the reason that John Lewis' Christmas campaigns succeed is because they know how to connect to their target consumer. As a brand, they know that most children have a favourite toy to which they probably believe to be real, so by creating a campaign in which shows a child with a real life penguin as a best friend reflects the real life child consumer. Also by showing Monty the penguin as a real life penguin throughout and then revealing that he is only a toy at the end provokes a sense of magic within the child consumer as they will be more than likely believe that if they have a toy version of Monty the penguin then they will experience the same relationship with Monty that the child has within the commercial.

Overall, I feel that John Lewis are very clever at knowing exactly what their target consumer wants. The brand seems to be all about connecting and listening to what the consumer wants rather than creating a random campaign which has no meaning. Yet they are also very business headed as they know that by creating a campaign that is targeted for the child consumer, it will be more likely to boost sales at Christmas rather than if it was to be a campaign aimed at adults because Christmas is generally seen to be all about the magic that surrounds the idea of Christmas for children.

Sourced from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/john-lewis-christmas-advert-95-4587556