Menswear AW11: 'Maximum of Minimum'

One of my favourite menswear collections for A/W11 is from the designers Sachiko Okada and Aaron Sharif, for their fashion label Blaak.

I love firstly the title of the collection, which reminds me of my work- in my photo shoot concepts I like to look at extremes, from maximum taste to minimal classics.

Menswear collections for AW/11 flirted with the androgynous look, the collections were also heavily influenced by functionality within clothing. Blaak's Maximum of Minimum collection does have these key styles and themes within their collection, but it's not overtly out there and in your face which I really like. You can see subtle greats in their pieces for A/W11- for instance, I love their black shirt with zipped collar, it looks fab as it is, but when the collar is zipped away, it gives the shirt another style.

This shoot below, from Dazed and Confused online, reminds me so much also of The Hurts style- one which you guys know I love!

This shoot in itself, is fab! I love the yellow undertones of the images, and the 4th image below is just stunning. The way the photographer caught the models movement yet shot the product so clear is gorgeous.

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.

'Folding Fashion' photoshoot

These are my images for our last university brief, 'Folding Fashion'.

The brief was to concentrate on still life styling for a brand of our choice and to do the photoshoot, we needed to consider how we will show the clothing rather than the accessories in a still life fashion image, without a model.

My chosen brand is American Apparel, I chose this brand because I knew specifically that it would be a challenge to do a still life fashion story as their advertisments are and always have shown a sexy girl in the shot to promote the American Apparel 'product': I say 'product' because I don't really believe that the company is promoting it's products, I think American Apparel is promoting its lifestyle.

These are my images.




I wanted to use the bed sheet as a backdrop to my products to further highlight the sexual connotations AA has in their advertising, and I also wanted to take the product away to leave a silhouette of the product to evoke a story in the images. I leave the story up to the customer to work out.

'Extreme Taste' Photoshoot

You guys have absolutely waited long enough for these images.

Again apologies for the lateness I have been so busy with 3rd year uni projects, volunteering, starting my new job as a visual merchandiser for UKGreetings and being a dresser at the leeds fashion show...anyway this is my first photoshoot for the year.

My brief derived from a quote we were given where we had to re-interpret the quote into a couture photoshoot, based on the trends for Fall10.

The title for the brief was 'Extreme Taste'.











Photographer Charys Ellmer
Stylist Myself
Model Francesca Brooke-Fenton