Fashion: Constructed Image: Process of Visual References

We began creating mood boards based around the category of "Film" during the first week of having the assignment. These depicted scenes of films we admired the lighting choices of, examples of film noir, some of Tim Walker's fashion sets, strange and interesting rooms, the theme of exploration which particularly interested Joe Earley, photos of collections I found particularly interesting and some elaborate and even gothic make up styles. Generally, aesthetics we desired.

We displayed these mood boards and talked about them as a group. We discussed going for a similar look to the rooms in the last mood boards - we liked the extravagance and the vibrant colours. We also like Tim Walkers fashion influence upon our mood boards and thought we could work with something like this.

However, upon having differing opinions we began to talk about a set split between a modern and colourful look and a more subtle traditional feel. One of the suggestions was creating a room directly split in half, each half showing a very different picture as well as the model being styled very differently on each side of the body. Two things came from this: the idea of duality, and a reference (Dark City) dealing with the notion of two opposites residing together.

Due to this influence, we then narrowed down our ideas and came up with revised mood boards depicting the psychological aspects of films which also exhibited the idea of duality such as Blue Velvet, Donnie Darko and Fight Club. We also started thinking about the American Dream after exploring films like Blue Velvet and American Beauty thinking about the notion of duality within them.

 

After this we decided to work with the idea behind the American Dream and focus on the facade behind it. How everything seems perfect but behind closed doors it is a very different story. We thought about what would be involved in our set f we went down this route. We decided fairly early on that we would build a dining room, and have a female model who would be the housewife looking after the home. We created more mood boards from this point focussing more on fashion and character and also the period of the 50s and what the home would look like in this decade. The look of the model became important as we decided we wanted a false look; doll like and awkward.

After this we considered the composition of our photograph and what would be included. Originally we wanted a whole family around the table. However we realised this would cause more difficulties due to sourcing the right models and especially because children would be involved as well as possibly crowding the image.

We then considered the use of mannequins to reinforce the awkwardness and doll-like look to contribute to the false perfection behind the concept of the American Dream. From this we ended up researching the aesthetics of the Nuclear Towns designed for experimentation and analysis of the effect of nuclear bombs in which mannequins were used.

These are what we used as our final visual references to achieve the right aesthetics for our concept having developed from all the influences we had from the beginning and honed in on what we felt was strong. We tried to make our set look like a real home, just as the nuclear homes were designed t seem real and why mannequins were placed within. Having been unable to source a mannequin we directed our model to seem fake, like a doll or a mannequin with awkward limbs and a strange posture with a distant gaze.

As well as this, we wanted to involve the outside with the interior and we used these photographs as inspiration and references for creating a similar look in our set with the juxtaposition between this strange occurrence - sand entering the house from the desert with what is seemingly normal and everyday life for the housewife.