Glamour and Glitter, Fashion and Fame

Found this picture of me backstage at my 'Jem and the Holograms' photo shoot back in la uni days. It made me chuckle lots.

Ziggy Lost

Hallo, see I kept my promise and I'm back :)
I've been working on some new illustrations but I thought I'd post about a past project I did whilst in my third year at university. The project was to design a range of mens shirts for a River Island competition. 
My collection was called ZIGGY LOST and was based upon androgyny and the blurring of sexuality. Below is the collection statement expressing the concept behind the designs.

"Girls can wear jeans, And cut their hair short, Wear shirts and boots, 'Cause it's ok to be a boy, But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading, But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, Wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl." 

Madonna "What It Feels Like For A Girl" song April 2001.

The boys of today's world wear make-up and feminine clothes, have big hair and the freedom of expression.

They walk in the footsteps of their legends Ziggy, Bolan, Freddie and Jagger. 

Iconic's that helped blur sexuality and androgyny. 

Confidence is key. 

They strutt around resembling exotic plumed feathery birds flirting with all they encounter. With their fo-femininity masking their raging testosterone they entice and intoxicate their maiden admirers, who are fascinated by their feminine allurement. 

Boys are expected to act and dress and behave like boys, and girls are meant to resemble girls, but 'nothing is just black and white - there is always shades of grey'. 

The monochrome colouration of 'Ziggy Lost' represents the set ways of sexuality, and within the cut and shaping of the garments the 'shades of grey,' entwining feminine and masculine will be portrayed. 

Fragmented. 

Trying to discover themselves in a stable environment of acceptance. 

Capturing this essence of uncertainty, disorientation and disorder the labyrinth portrays the puzzlement of life.

Escapism from a confused and entanglement state. 

This is ZIGGY LOST.

moodboard

illustration line up

 

working drawings of the Range

 

Inspirational photoshoot shot by Lacey Layne Clements, styled and edited by me Clare And The Bear (aka Clare Heart)

 model: Blane Anthony Chapman

Golly it seems such a long time ago when I was doing this project! Although I still remember the migrain rendering stress of creating what seemed like a million techincal drawings! I definately don't miss those!

Enter the world Through The Looking Glass .....

"Through The Looking Glass"

Photography: Lacey Jayne Clements
Model: Jenna Morely

Garment/styling: Clare Heart

Editorial: Clare Heart

Enter the realm of fantasy and delve deep into the depths of the magical forests and there you'll find the most beautiful ethereal entities that roam the land.

Go discover the magic.

Presenting here to you the photo shoot of my garment the 'Florella' dress. The shoot was photographed by my dear friend Lacey Jayne Clements (click here to see her flickr). This was the second shoot we did together and I feel it went fantastically! The shoot is embedded in magic, beauty and fairy tales, and reflects essences of Alice in Wonderland and photographer Anna Gaskall. I chose the model Jenna Morely, who also attended my uni, as she possesses a bohemian nature to her which I felt was perfect for this magical fairy tale shoot. 

This project was from my second year studying BA HONS Fashion Design at university UCA Rochester. The dress is constructed out of 140 pieces of ivory silk and wool and is based upon spheres and segments. The original inspiration came from the photography work of German industrial architecture photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. Their images of the sphere water tanks 

(inset image) were my main source of inspiration (see more of their work here). Although my construction concept was born out of something hard, industrial and man made, my final design was feminine and ethereal also containing a vintage elegance. This confliction of industrial and ethereal is melted together within the Florella dress, though highly constructed it is eternally soft and feminine.

The image below has been edited to be a double page magazine layout. 

The image below has been edited to be a double page magazine layout.

The image below has been edited to be a double page magazine layout.

The image below has been edited to be a double page magazine layout.

Smile; yeh it makes me smile

This shoot titled 'Smile' reminds me of a modern sex fuelled fantasy fairy tale, and to me is like a mix between Ellen Von Unwerth and David Lachapele with its vibrant colours, sexual themes and cropped body shots. It also reminds me of Lady Gaga's 'Just Dance' music video. I'm not sure who shot the collection 'Smile' but all the following images are from la site foto decandent.  

The title 'Smile' reminded of of Lily's song so here she is to sing le post out: 

Absolutely totally completely and so utterly Mr Men and wee Little Misses

Feeling le need to put my thoughts and ideas down about the shoot I have lined up in the coming new year. As I mentioned a while ago Lacey and myself are organising a shoot based upon several characters from the Mr Men and Little Miss series, read the previous blog about le shoot here. We have since decided upon the final 10 characters in which we will style and shoot. The final 5 Mr Men are Mr Bump, Mr Messy, Mr Impossible, Mr Perfect and Mr Topsy Turvy. And la final 5 Little Misses are Little Miss Magic, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Scatterbrain, Little Miss Splendid and finally last but by no means least Little Miss Sunshine.
After several artistic discussions with le wonderful Lacey, who will be photographing the shoot these are the stylistic ideas we have for each character:


Mr Impossible

Here's a quick sketch I made of how Lacey described her vision of Mr Impossible. Her idea was a male version of Mary Poppins. Attired in tweed suiting, this character has an English eccentric essence, with vibrant colours and quirky accessories. Here's a few fashion imagery which I have used as inspiration for le styling (click to enlarge):

All images are from style.com

Little Miss Magic

This sketch is inspired by a shoot from I think Dazed & Confused where the model and styling is exactly what I had envisaged for this character. I imagine black make up with moody slightly gothic tones, messy hair, with a sultry gown with feathers around le sleeves and collar. Here's a few inspirational pictures (click to enlarge):

     

Images from foto decadent and scanned imagery from magazines.

Mr Bump

I'm feeling for this character a younger style, school boy summer chic. Quite fun and playful, with paint box colours on an innocent boy faced model. I see Mr Bump in light powder blue to represent young and innocent. Here's a few photo shoots with an injured theme and a few fashion imagery for styling research (click to enlarge): 

Imagery from style.com, soderbergagentur.com and are scanned shoots from magazines.

Little Miss Sunshine

This sketch of Little Miss Sunshine depicts her wearing a vintage green sunflower dress of mine which I obtained when working at Cow. I think its perfect for Miss Sunshine as it epitomises summer. It is one of those dresses which you surely cannot be unhappy in. I imagine this character to be ethereal with flowers and ribbons in her hair. Here are a few research images (click to enlarge):

Imagery from flickr.com and foto decadent.

Mr Messy

For Mr Messy the perfect image was a shoot from Tony & Guy magazine titled "Poster Boy" where the model had long messy hair and grungey clothing (1st image below). The perfect inspiration for this character is Kurt Kobain hence why I have tried not to use any imagery off him so we don't replicate him. I envisage the clothing to be torn and have paint thrown upon them. The latter images remind me of Wozel Gommage which is a route we could take for this character. (click to enlarge images below):

Images from style.com, foto decadent and Tony & Guy magazine.

Little Miss Naughty

Little Miss Naughty I believe is Lacey's favourite character. Fun, colourful, energetic and extremely playful. My sketch is coloured slightly obviously with the purple body suit and green bow, and actually styling won't be as obvious with colouring. The body suit is a perfect look for le mischievous character. Here's some research imagery (click to enlarge):

Imagery from foto decadent, and scanned magazines.

Mr Perfect

Mr Perfect can either be styled as, like in my sketch, all suited and booted in tailored clothes, the perfect prom date. Or a more modern approach with rock'n'roll stylings with skinny tie unbuttoned shirt and swarve shades. The research imagery below depicts both of these looks (click to enlarge):

 

Images from style.com and foto decadent.

Little Miss Splendid

My sketch of Miss Splendid shows her wearing a gold gown, I have in fact this dress which I found that is made of gold velvet and simply elegant. I may amend the dress so it has a split but will see what the dress looks like upon the model first. The desired look is elegant and glamourous and well simply splendid. Here's a few research imagery (click to enlarge):

Images from foto decadent and google.

Mr Topsy Turvy

I must admit I have found it hard to find imagery for this character. My plan is to collect random eccentric clothing and play around on the day with the clothes on the model, this way is more fun and naturally playful. Crazy colours, prints and patterns worn upside down back to front and inside out, with eclectic accessories. The inspiration for Topsy Turvy is the Mad Hatter. Designers I've research are Comme des Garcons and Etro as both can be eclectic and eccentric. Here are a few images (click to enlarge):

Images from style.com, Wonderland magazine, google, and scanned magazines.

Little Miss Scatterbrain

My absolutely favourite character Little Miss Scatterbrain, the crazy eccentric gal who's scatty. Kinda reminds me of myself (lol). Again Scatterbrain is alike Topsy Turvy and I will style this character on la day. She will be extreme fun, I've collected a random bunch of clothes that i will throw upon le model in an eclectic manner. Crazy colours, prints and patterns worn upside down back to front and inside out, with eclectic accessories. Here's a few images that are perfect inspiration for styling and poses (click to enlarge):

All images from foto decadent.