Unexposed Expression

I have just finished my final project at university, which is a sad moment really, I love being a student: being able to experiment and be insane in my work is something I love, and I believe, although when I do leave I will still be in a creative field, being a student I feel you are at your most creative.

Anyway....


Our final project was left open to each of us to decide what brief we wanted to work towards. This in itself is maybe something that again being a student you can really creatively drive the brief to how you want to answer it, maybe in comparison for when you work in the industry. So, for my final brief at university, I decided to focus on trend for A/W12. At university we are truly privileged to have W.G.S.N at our fingertips for free until we graduate, which is a massive, beneficial and sheerly amazing resource and site. For my trend brief I was attached to the trend site to figure out and understand trend in itself (as this was the first time I really studied trend) but to also distinguish trend for A/W12.

After 2 months of field trips (which included visits to leeds and london), a tonne of research and articulation, I began to understand and creatively experiment with trend ideas for A/W12.

My trend is called Unexposed Expression, it's a theme that lies with the new minimalist consumer, buyer and person. It's a protest against the digital and an exploration of simple, basic being.

For my actual project I looked at producing a trend package, these images here, are visuals from each virtual section- these are the visuals I created to showcase my idea and concept.

Concept:





Colour:





Structure & Form:









Materials:




Shape:







(all images & text copyright of Ashleigh Chapman)

Dazed and Confused Photoshoot: balmy whites, with mossy greens.

I'm loving these images from Dazed and Confused latest issue, with the cover title, 'Birth of a Muse'.

I love the styling of Karen Langley's work. For this shoot Sharif Hamza, and Langley have really captured the consistent trend of the new minimalist. The setting is so simple yet really beautiful the mossy greens, and chalky whites compliment each other well. i am in love with the couture-esque white top, which is actually a garment from Pringle of Scotland!! It looks gorgeous and visually looks really strong, placed alongside the stunningly feminine Chloe shirt dress.

My favourite image has to be the image with the beautiful wooden chair, with the model in that amazing Fendi outfit, i love the geometric shapes and the lovely feminine, yet fairly odd, pose. I love the models image in the Comme Des Garcon outfit, her make-up and hair give the right amount of attitude.

A sexy shoot with undertones of femininity.

Refusal of fashion

This is amazing....it's the cover of 'Rei Kawakubo:Refusing Fashion' book...

Juxtaposition

Saw this and thought it was crazy beautiful.

Burberry Prorsum AW11

I haven't had much chance to watch many live shows from this seasons London Fashion Week with me being extra busy at work and being in my third year at uni....but I made time to watch the always amazing Burberry Prorsum show, and again what a stunning show it was.

Before we were taken to the runway, we saw plenty of fashionistas entering the venue.....Kate Bosworth looked gorgeous in a Burberry studded coat, Ellie Goulding looked fab with her ice cream pink hair and creamy camel Burberry jacket, Alexa Chung looked stunning as ever, dressed in navy and black with a beautiful pop of pastel mint seen in her dainty bag- there was a plethora actually, of Burberry Bright bags making there way towards this seasons show.

Of course Anna Wintour came to see the fab show, and she brought something with her that I don't think I have ever seen her with, a smile...and her coat was fantastic, such a lovely print. I loved the way the show was screened and shot: the camera angle almost cut off the heads of most of the people on screen, so the clothing was key.

Anyway onto the show....

The gorgeous Jourdan Dunn opened and closed the show for Burberry AW11, but each look differed massively from the entrance to the exit. The show opened with a bright orange coat, the silhouette being oversized and quite boxy. After this look, many more Burberry brights came walking down the length of the runway. One of my favourite pieces, was a gorgeous Olive green coat- very practical but cut so well. This seasons silhouette looked quite boxy and as we saw with ss11, proportion play was definitely apparent in this show. I saw glimpses of military inspiration, there was a lot of lacquered black trimmings and fastenings on the jackets at Burberry. The coats looked very practical for aw11, which I love: to buy a piece of amazing fashion that actually does its job is fab! The jackets and heavy duty coats kind of gave me a 'prim and proper' sense but one with attitude and an edge. I loved the cute oversized flat caps too, with the dalmation-esque print, these were fun. The only print I saw from the show, other than the Cruella Devil white and black, was the tartan- in a variety of colours, mine being the monochromatic, of course. There was a gorgeous mix of textures on the runway too, I loved the 'posh poodle' sweaters and jackets. One colour theme I loved was a gorgeous black current purple with a soft beige-the colours just really worked together.

As for accessories the handbags were cute, and the shoes even cuter- they reminded me very much of a school girl shoe, but much more boxier and higher.

After Jourdan walked the last lap of the runway, the lights went down and came right back up again for the final walk through of the show- all the models walked the runway in very cute transparent sculptural raincoats, whilst snow fell from the sky.

This is why I love A/W.

Inspirations

First came Beth Levine...



then came...

Benoît Méléard.


Incredible design.

A Classic.

I love these images from the new SS/11 Dr Marten's collection.

The two models in the film are Phoenix Richmond and Louis Simonon (the son of the bassist from The Clash). Their look really catches the iconic feel and sense of the Dr Marten boot- this workwear, gritty punk look, but with a modern feel, with the clean lines of the styling.

Jamie Morgan, the photographer for this collection, has really captured the look of the brand within these images, you can understand he has real knowledge and style sense of the brand. I love the use of the stacked lacquered black chairs and the concrete blocks, the colours work really well with the shoes and the simple styling. Phoenix looks fab in her khaki green parka and those bottle green Dr Martens.

I love good old traditional brands that stick, and Dr Marten's will always be a classic.

Black Swan

Wow.

Just wow.

I saw the eagerly awaited film this afternoon and it really is incredible.

Natalie portman is just amazing, her portrayal of both the white and black swan is just mesmerising.

I loved the costume throughout the film; the ballet tutus, the shrugs, the perfect pink ballet shoes and the contrast of the monochromatic theme that is adamant in every scene is stunning. The colour changes throughout the scenes as Portman's character, the ever angelic Nina, begins to mutate into the dark, black swan.

Nina is a ballerina in a heavily competitive ballet company in NYC, her life is dance and nothing else: never has the saying, born to dance, been so right for this woman, this woman who strives for perfection so much so it becomes part of her downfall.
Nina is given the main character of the Swan Lake performance, the Swan Queen, a part she has wanted and worked for for such a long time, yet she hasn't got the role as she wants it completely, when Lily (Mila Cunis), another dancer in the ballet company, is always over her shoulder. The role for swan lake requires a dancer who can play the virgin like, ethereal white swan yet one that can turn and switch into the dark, sexy black swan. At first Nina seems to struggle with the formation into the black swan but after a night with the personified black Swan, Lily, she grasps the role and doesn't let anything get in her way.

Visually the film is just stunning. You understand certain choices of camera placement, fashion choices, lighting ideas: everything about the film hints at comparisons and the sheer starkness of black and white- the two sides and differences.

There were certain parts in the film that my eyes couldn't move from the screen, and others, where my eyes were covered with my hands. The film was everything I expected, Portman's portrayal of Nina is astonishing, and like I said visually this film is by far one of the best I have seen in a long time.

V&R Menswear

I love this look from the Viktor and Rolf menswear show.

The mix of fabric is stunning.

One of my Vices: Cute Jewellery.

I love these adorable pill pins by LA-based jewelry label Cast of Vices.

You don't need to pop any pill to get your fix....just visit here to see the collection.

Black Swan

I am VERY excited to see this film....roll on february..

Natalie Portman looks incredible...

GlobalCool: 'Turn up the Style, Turn Down the Heat'

So this tuesday evening I was invited to the lovely GlobalCool, 'Turn Up the Style, Turn Down the Heat' event in leeds, at the Remade in Leeds studio, right by Hyde Park.

The night was fun, full of yumminess and plenty of gorgeous sweaters and fab fashion trimmings.

I took my seamstress/designer friend, Ewa, with me incase I needed a little help with my sewing technique- which I did because I think I chose one of the hardest fashion trims to attach to a gorgeous merino wool, navy in colour, sweater, provided by the yummy vintage shop- Blue Rinse, in leeds.

We walked into a warm,cosy room full of amazing fashion pieces from Antiform, designed by Lizzie. I was greeted by Rochelle, a lovely, down to earth woman who helped in organising the event- she showed us where the cupcakes were so we became best friends :) ...myself and Ewa had a yummy coffee from the cute, vintage cups and saucers, in an amazing room: it was surrounded by materials,fabrics and fab vintage table cloths.

After we were warmed up with good coffee, and unbelievable cupcakes (provided by The Marvellous Tea Dance Company) we walked through into the workshop studio (through a fab room, absolutely covered in manuscript paper).

There was en excitable creative atmosphere in the room, I was really excited about refashioning my chosen sweater...so with the camera's rolling, GlobalCool introduced themselves, as did Lizzie and then we became our own fashion designers and began to redesign our knitwear.

I chose a plain, v-neck navy merino wool sweater to refashion and make into something a little more stylish rather than very classic and chic. I was drawn to this type of knit because...oh my...so soft! Also, I have this type of knit in my wardrobe but I don't think I would ever pick it out of my wardrobe and start sewing, cutting and adding trimming to it, just because I would feel a little anxious to work on this amazing fabric, but with this event, it gave me the confidence to get on with it and start redesigning the sweater. I knew I wanted to add a collar-like piece to the knit, to emphasis the neckline, so I chose a gorgeous vintage looking doily to attach around the neckline: the big flower shapes and lacing added real excitement to the simple navy knit, the sweater looked fab once finished: I'm going to wear my new design to university, to show my fashion friends and without a doubt this sweater will be on my back for a long time, if i could wear it in the shower, I would- the soft knit, the colour and that little extra detailing is just gorgeous and very me.


Ewa, picked an army printed sweater and wanted to make it look a little sexier- she added black lace right done the centre and a cute sequinned bow tie at the neckline- it looked fab!







The event was brilliant, i'm very grateful for the invite: the music was fab, the people were friendly and very helpful, the cupcakes were incredible, the sweaters were amazing, even more so when we each got our fashion hands onto them.....

GlobalCool has another event in Brighton on the 25th January: all my Southern readers if you can get yourself to the event- you will definitely enjoy yourselves- if you love to customise clothes, if you have always dreamed of becoming a fashion designer, and you would like to save money (lets not forget the reason of the event- to turn down the heat and grab your sweater, and save on heating bills) this event is for you!

Thank you GlobalCool for inspiring me to go through my wardrobe and do some amazing customising to some of my clothing, for helping me with giving me great ideas to save cash, and for the fab evening.

Loved it.

To start the new year...stunning fashion imagery

Happy New Year readers!!

Hope the festivities have been fabulous for you all.

...and yes, I know I'm a bad friend...I haven't updated on here for a long time, this is because I had 4 deadlines to complete for uni over the festive, mince pie eating period: I had a photoshoot for a live brief to do (which if you are interested in seeing my project from the very beginning, see my journal blog for the project); I had my first experience working with male fashion- I did a fantastic and very successful style consultation with my brother aka mrYen; I had to finish my journal for our christmas fashion show for university and I still have my contact book to do....so as you can see, busy busy busy bee I have been.

Anyway, lets move on, don't want to bore you guys anymore.....

So 2011, wow the years are going by quickly: New Years resolutions for this year- definitely eating less (such a cliche,sorry) and visiting more exhibitions to keep my creative juices flowing.

To start this year on here, I figured I would open with gorgeous imagery from an amazing photographer.

...

I came across this photographer from a blog I follow, Habitually Chic: this image made me want to find out more about the creative.


Guy Aroch's images are distinctive in that the colouring and the tone of the image is so timeless. The images almost look vintage like- I really love this look.

Guy has lived in the amazing city of New York since 1993, where he has grown as a creative person and his work has been influenced by the amazing surroundings. Today he is one of the leading photographers in fashion, beauty and entertainment. Specifically with his signature use of colour and tones, his images feel fresh, modern and unique.

Guy has shifted his creative abilities over to the moving image where he is directing pieces for his clients and editorial partners.

Guy Aroch spends his time between New York, London and Paris.


...what a lucky guy...