Paper Dresses

Newspaper dress by Zoe Bradley

1960s "The Souper Dress" Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Paper Dress

Origami paper dress

 

Newspaper dress by Gary Harvey

Designed by Petra Storrs for The Sunday Times Fashion Suppliment

Newspaper dress by Zoe Bradley

Newspaper dress by Gary Harvey

Paper Sculpture Fashion by Zaharova and Plotnikov

I have been researching ways I can incorporate paper consumption into my seven deadly sins images and have come across these amazing paper dresses by various designers. These images go to show how versatile paper can be, as a way of creating volume and ruffles, origami shapes or adding prints to a design. It would be really interesting to use paper dresses in my images, however I don't feel I have the construction skills to pull this off. I have thought about collaborating with other designers on our course as a way of creating paper outfits, although I feel that the outfits I will choose are quite personal to each sin and therefore I wouldn't be able to rely on someone elses designs to fit each sin.

Hair & Make Up Ideas

These images give an idea of the style of hair and make up I want for my photoshoot. Candy colours are a big trend at the moment, and also match the bright feminine colours of The Girls logo and the scenery planned for the paper eaters event. Therefore I plan to use clashing, brightly coloured eyeshadows to create a dolly mixture effect and also use strong coloured lipsticks to match the mood of each sin. This style also resembles the look of 1980s new romantics, which adds to the 80s vibe of my styling and ties in with the nostaligic 80s look of the paper eaters.

The hairstyles I have chosen are all updos with a slightly messy or quirky edge, as I know The Girls are found of big, messy, birds nests hair in the style of Helena Bohnem Carter in the film Sweeny Todd. I want the hair to add drama to my images and therefore needs to have lots of volume and height, which is why I will experiment with quiffs in order to achieve this effect and add an 80s edge.

Making paper props!

This is my first attempt at making the paper props for my photo shoot using paper mache. I plan to use this slice of cake and  apple to create the Gluttony image. Although it is hard to tell from these images, these pieces of food are actually oversized to create an extra sense of gluttony by showing my model feasting on massive portions. I purposefully wanted to make these pieces of food out of newspaper to represent society's gluttony and excess use of paper, however I think I will add a wash of colours to the food to highlight certain elements like the icing and cherries ontop of the cake.

Marie Antoinette: 'Let them eat cake!'

Marie Antoinette, the film which stars Kirsten Dunst and is written and directed by Sofia Coppola is full of inspiration for how I hope to represent Gluttony in my photo shoot. I love the film's visual decedance and opulance which is often portrayed through the food in scenes like these. The lavish food and cakes are displayed to create maximum craving and desire and this is what I hope to achieve for this particular sin.

Harvey Nichols campaign

I remember this Harvey Nichols advertisement campaign from the time of its original release back in spring 2005, as it really caught my eye for the way so much is happening in each image to really draw the eye into the scene. The art directors Adam Tucker and Justin Tindall used the concept of the seven deadly sins to depict each floor of Harvey Nichols e.g. Gluttony - food hall, Sloth - menswear, Pride - beauty and Envy - womenswear. The aim of this campaign was to show that Harvey Nichols is a place where temptation is on every level and you can indulge your wicked desires - the ultimate sins. I love the way the seven deadly sins have been protrayed through these glossy actoion shots, each telling its own story. This is something I hope to recreate through my portayal of the seven deadly sins but incorportaing the element of paper consumption as well.

Paper Eaters: The Event!

This is the press release The Girls have produced for the Paper Eaters event, and it's fair to say I'm getting pretty excited about getting involved now. I had my first meeting with Zoe yesterday, which involved discussing the outline of my concept and how I could display my work at the event. Zoe was really positive about my ideas and gave me a clearer idea of the style in which I could display my work. She agreed that it would be a good idea to hang my images on the pink wire fencing at the event using pegs or in smashed glass frames to create a DIY look. We decided that a good idea could be for the images to be printed using a colour photocopier to create an informal test shoot style, with added notes. These are all things I will need to consider when presenting my images at the Paper Eaters event in Selfridges, however I don't think I will be sure until I see the final images although I will work on these options in the meantime.

Plan of paper eaters event layout. Pink lines indicate the wire mesh fencing, where I will be able to display my work.

Paper Eaters logo in cute, candy colours.

Jean Charles de Castelbajac Dollar Dress

I am a huge fan of Jean Charles de Castelbajac's work as it is so wacky and zaney, often with a humourous element which I think compliments The Girls Paper Eaters concept. I first saw this dress worn by Katy Perry on a television chat show and what you can't see from this photograpgh is that the dollar bill is made entirely of sequins!

I love how this dress symbolises societys greed and obsession with money, as fashion has always been a status symbol for wealth and greed, just never before in such a blatant, obvious way. I hope to incorportate this idea into the Greed concept of my photo shoot.

Howard Schatz

This is one of the best examples of the seven deadly sins portrayed through fashion photography. This series of images was created by the well established photographer Howard Schatz, although I haven't been able to find out where these pictures were used, it does look like they are in the style of a fashion editorial.

It is interesting to see how each of the sins is portrayed, as I have noticed it is often the case of very beautiful, impeccably dressed women acting dysfunctionally in some way or another. I like how alot of the images are shot from above, as if to show the model lying helpless in each particular sinful state.

I am also interested in the text and especially the fonts choosen to represent each image and sin. Imaginative styles and layouts of text have been created to highlight each sin, just by the shaping of the word. This has been achieved effectively to some extent as some words are stronger and read better than others. Although it is a great idea and has given me inspiration to experiment with different fonts, when it comes to presenting my images.

America's Next Top Model Campaign

I haven't really found any examples of fashion editorials that have used the concept of the seven deadly sins, however I was aware that America's Next Top Model had used it with their models as an advertisement campaign. I think this is a great example, if not abit obvious way of portraying the seven sins and shows that to create the different  look of each sin they have relied heavily on the use of colour, props, styling of outfits and the models facial expressions. I will definitely need to take all these factors into account when storyboarding each sin, so the audience is aware and can identify each sin as some are very similar and can overlap in their meanings, such as Greed and Gluttony. I also like the composition of these images as you don't often see a whole series of fashion images shot from overhead but I think it creates good continuity and shows how very little of each image is actually needed in order for an audience to identify each sin.

Grace Jones: 80's fashion icon

Graces Jones is regarded as an 80's fashion icon, renowned for her fierce androdgenous look and edgy power dressing. Her image is so strong and empowering yet mantains a glamorous quality. I am interested in exploring this 80's look as part of the styling for my photo shoot, as a strong, edgy glomour would compliment the seven deadly sins more than the bold colours and graphic prints of 80's pop culture.

Pierre et Gilles

I am interested in the work of art duo Pierre et Gilles, as their style of photography is quite fantastical and atmospheric. Their style is to create portrait shots, which have been layered with often surreal backgrounds and foregrounds to create a theme for the photograph, such as the sea shells framing the foreground of this nautical themed image above. Pierre et Gilles are renowned for their homoerotic style, but I am more interested in the mythical and religous iconography that is included in their work.

I feel that I could incorporate this style into my seven deadly sins concept, as it is often percieved as being quite a spiritual and other-worldly.

David LaChapelle

                            

I really enjoy David LaChapelle's style of photography as it has a highly polished look but is often surreal with a humorous edge. He manages to capture a sense of glamor in all his images which portray scenes ranging from the ordinary and mundane to the tragic and grotesque. His work is always vivid and playful often with a sense of escapism. I hope to capture some of these qualities in the images I plan to create in my photo shoot as I feel that they would represent the concept of the seven deadly sins well, as they are often portrayed as surreal, over-exaggerated scenes of reality.

Mark Velasquez

For inspiration I have been researching different photographers versions of the seven deadly sins. I haven't been able to find that many examples that portray the seven deadly sins, however I did come across a photographer from America called Mark Velasquez who's work I particularly liked. These are a couple of images from his series of photographs of the seven deadly sins and I am particularly drawn to the vivid array of colours used in each image. Each image effectively portrays a different character that represents each sin, with the models expressions really adding to the representation of the sin and in some cases adding a touch of humour.

Envy

          

Greed

Sloth

Lust

Seven Deadly Sins

I have created these image boards of each of the seven deadly sins, as a starting point for inspiration for my own photoshoot. I have also added the different meanings for each sins from a thesaurus, to help me imagine the different ways I could portray the sins, as the thesaurus has shown me slighty different contexts and meanings for each word. I have also included these definitions as I wanted to be exactly sure what each of the sins meant, as words such as sloth and wrath were quite vague to me, but now I have a clearer idea of what the words actually mean.

I have also noticed how some of the sins meanings overlap quite alot, such as Greed, Gluttony and Lust all represent feelings of desire, craving and longing, whereas Wrath and Envy have similar conitations of jealously and revenge.

Looking in mirror, showing off body, peacock feathers.

slouched poses, messy surroundings, dazed expressions.

Angry expressions, destruction, violence.

Jealous expressions, desire for what others possess.

Excess food, hungry expressions, gorging on food.

Lying in unmade bed, revealing parts of body, red lips.

Showing off money, excess of money/ objects of desire.

Paper Eaters Style & Image

I have created this mood board to show the references The Girls have shown us as to the type of image and style they want to achieve throughout the event. Although the 80's style isn't an era I particularly relate to, I hope to take elements of this look that I will recreate in my photo shoot.

Paper Eaters Mood Board

I have created this mood board of visuals which represent the style and aspects of the Paper Eaters event. Zoe has discussed that there will be a shrine to paper in the style of a mexican home altar, pinyatas and old-fashioned type writers and printing presses at the event. I have also included objects The Girls are interested in such as ornate keys, clocks and broken mirrors as a starting point to the images and look that I will create within my concept of the seven deadly sins.