The artist of fashion.

Early christmas gift????? Anyone..... :)

Hussein Chalayan

Does anyone else agree that Hussein Chalayan is the Damien Hirst of the fashion world??





'Hussein Chalayan' is at the Lisson Gallery, London, now and also at Spring Projects, 'B-Side' from 17th September

Hussein Chalayan: Designer and artiste.

Hussein Chalayan was born in Cyprus Nicosia, in 1970, around the time of the invasion of Turkey, which (with time) has seemed to influence his creative mind.

For fall 2010, Chalayan's presentation for his collection proved the art of the fashion show as theatre, he is renowned for his spectacular presentations and high tech shows ever since he appeared on the fashion scene. The current collection, being a little more commercial for Chalayan, has been referenced to as 'London in the nineties': the collection referencing hooded garments, trainers and baggy suit jackets.

Chalayan's trademarks, are his incredible complexity, in terms of his presentations of his pieces and the garments themselves, and refined clothing. Chalayan is a fashion designer yes, but also a strong artist in that his pieces of clothing seem to be heavily focused on either the environment, history, landscape, ethnography and culture: he is a very contemporary designer that likes to challenge certain concepts of life. He recognises so successfully, the fact that the way we dress is a reaction of the times we live in.

One collection that influences my ideas for our photography project is a collection that questions the dress and cultural ideas of Muslims and their religious beliefs. Chalayan shows, what appears to be, 4 models dressed in Burqa 's and with each next model a length of the cloth has been taken away to reveal more of oneself to the audience. In terms of how this relates to our project, we aren't doing a photo-shoot that references any religion but it's interesting to see his idea behind the collection and in a way it highlights something about every culture today. The idea and the role of a woman in society.

Following Consumers.

We had our group meeting yesterday to discuss everyones initial ideas and decide on a path to go down for the new project.

Our idea at the minute came from simply the word, 'Match'. Moira had an idea to base a shoot around the idea of consumerism and mass reproduction, which from a stylist view and my personal view I really like, as I like to question the ideas behind brands and peoples behaviour. The definition for the word match includes the idea of 'similarity' and the connotations of a 'unit' of specifics. So with this in mind, and the idea of consumerism, specially at the minute, we have agreed on focusing the shoot on a 'uniform of people', in this case a model, alongside mannequins.

The meeting itself went really well: we work well together and it shows. We each had initial ideas for a shoot, but drew everyones ideas together, as they seem to work well.

This is my list of notes from the meeting;

-match- definition? in terms of fashion- an army of women
-warriors, army, militant (regarding style-the fall collections referenced heavily the military)
-look at fashion shows/designers that have meaning about the portrayal of women (hussein chalayan)
-Jeff Walls picture, Insomnia, colouring of image-photography format
-consumerism and mass reproduction
-using materials to change its purpose -resemble fire-chiffon, hot colours (lucinda chambers)
-army, on the street (early morning-light)
-smoke/mist over images
-cinematic style shots
-research any connections with smoking and the military(rationing of cigarrettes)
-playing with proportions -do one shoot the size of a barbie- use barbie as a model (ideas of mass reproduction/consumerism/similar/the same) and another shoot life size
-when sequencing and editing- have a strong visable narrative (put images in certain order)
-in shoot -model- odd one out, mannequins (they are very similar as they are mass produced, more so than a person) as the consumer society- wanting to look the same
-film stills
-mannequins lit up???
-research barbie- her portrayal/meaning/connotations

People to research-

Fashion:
-Helmut Newton- naked women, lined up
-Hussein Chalayan-how he portrays ideas of consumerism
-Lucinda Chambers (vogue stylist) who uses clothes in a shoot to change its use i.e trousers as a head piece

Photography:
-Glen Luchford-cinematic style
-Miles Aldrige constructive set ups
-Cindy Sherman (portrayal of women)
-Finley Mckay