Motel California

Throughout our lectures this week we had the re-occuring theme of trend and how the industry re-uses certain narratives and props within their campaigns and photoshoots. As part of our Pinterest work, we had to create boards which focused on highlighting some of these trends. 

I looked at both popular trends from a few years ago and also at ones that were more current within magazines and ad campaigns today; for example around 5 years ago 'American High School' was a major narrative throughout the industry and from this came many re-occuring props, 'the yellow school bus' and 'American Footballs' being two of the main ones. 

However my favourite narrative and prop duo by far, was the 'Seedy Motel' and 'Cigarette'. Almost all of the images I gathered contained a well dressed woman, either lay provocatively or leaning against a wall/door. Included within this is there is normally a single prop, usually a bed or a cigarette. After gathering my images I personally felt that many images were trying to convey the narrative of a cheating housewife or of a mistress, all of which are waiting for their lover to return. I came to this conclusion as in many of the photos the woman was either looking out of the window or lay across a bed in underwear. I love the creative direction used within many of the shoots as they chose very vibrant colours yet dulled them down, and almost all had a very 50's theme running through, from the scenery outside to what the women were wearing. 

By completing this task, it has opened my eyes and made me more aware to the trends that are less obvious until we really focus on them and pay attention to what we are actually looking at. This is something that I got into and enjoyed using Pinterest to find these themes and is going to be something I continue with. 

Here are a few of my favourite images. My Pinterest is www.pinterest.com/abbehomer

None of these images are my own, they were all sourced from Pinterest.

How unique are we?

Today’s post is coming from a quote I came across during my required reading of ‘Fashion a Philosophy’ by Lars Svendsen and it said ‘Fashion has conquered most areas, but lost itself in the process. It is everywhere, but that also means that it is nowhere.’

This got me thinking about the idea of individuality and how unique are we? Is there really such a thing as being unique or are we all just copies that have been tweaked and twisted in some way; looking particularly at fashion and fashion styling.

The dictionary defines UNIQUE as;

Existing as the only one or as the sole example, single/solitary in type or characteristics. Having no like or equal.

So if that’s the case how can we define ourselves as unique, how can we stand out from a crowd of so many in an industry with thousands claiming their individuality. I personally feel that there are two sides to this idea. The first coming from my belief that ‘fast fashion’ is merely old trends recycled and reshaped, and therefore if that is the case, then there is no such thing as unique. Huge high street fashion houses such as Topshop and Zara have hundreds of stores around the world, with thousands buying from them daily; therefore, in a very literal respect many of us are not unique as the clothes themselves are not unique, they are made for many not for one.

The second is too take ‘unique’ as an abstract term and look at it more from the idea that fashion is about ones’ self expression and not conforming to society’s rules about what we should and shouldn’t be wearing and doing.

Diana Vreeland

Within my class today we watched a film called ‘Diana Vreeland: The eye has to travel’ and Diana Veerland completely and utterly captured my thoughts towards the idea of uniqueness, “Style – all who have it share one thing: originality.” This emphasizes to me how important it is to be who you want to be especially within the fashion industry, Vreeland had an innate sense and she knew when she had found someone and/or something worth talking about. Stars such as Cher, Barbara Streisand and Twiggy in their day were not the conventional models being used within the industry, however this didn’t faze Vreeland in her decision to use them with Harpers Bazar and Vogue; and I feel that by going against the fashion norm she stood out more, and by taking stars individual assets, her magazines became bigger and more popular than all others at the time, purely because she was original and stayed true to her fashion roots and was always willing to push the fashion boundaries and because of her bold choices, she is a true icon within the industry. Her work with Harpers Bazar, Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are second to none and her passion and influence have shaped all three to this day.

Cher - Vogue

Barbara Streisand - Vogue

For me personally I believe that ‘unique’ has lost its true meaning, particularly within the fashion industry. I feel that a more fitting word to describe ones’ style would be ‘individual’ as it still embodies the idea that people have very varied tastes but at the same time allows us to highlight our differences, for example two people could both buy a black dress (a fashion cliché, I know) but then style it with their own individual tastes, and by the end potentially have two outfits that look completely different.

To put it simply I feel that to define yourself as unique you merely just have to be yourself, there is nobody in the world the same as yourself and if you embody that into your life, with what you wear then you will always stand out.

Until next time my lovelies

Abi

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ALL IMAGES SOURCED FROM GOOGLE.

UNI - My first few days...

Hey everyone,

So as you can tell I've slacked the last few weeks when it comes to uploading a new post, but I promise there's a reason; and that reason is University. 2 weeks ago I packed up my stuff and headed off to my new adventure in Nottingham. Now that I've finally settled in and survived Fresher’s week (yes fresher’s flu is a real thing!) I realised it was time to get back into doing what I love.

What's my degree?

I'm currently at Nottingham Trent University, studying Fashion Communication and Promotion, this course covers a broad range of topics within the industry, such as Marketing/PR, styling, journalism and many many more, and as I'm still not sure what I want to do later in my life this course seemed like the perfect option. It's cliché I know but when I first visited the Uni, I fell in love with it all; the city, the uni itself and most importantly the course, and for anyone interested in the visual side of fashion and not necessarily making clothes then I would definitely recommend checking this course out! 

What can you expect?

Since starting my course it has become apparent that finding a way to communicate my thoughts and ideas is essential to becoming a successful student, and for me to do this I have decided to combine my personal and professional life into one blog. However, despite being all in one place, each section will be put into different categories,

•    Life - This is where you will get to see my regular blog posts, surrounding OOTD's, reviews and recommendations.

•   Reflective Journal - Every week (hopefully) I will post about the past 7 days’ events; what I've gotten up to both inside and outside of University, as Nottingham is such a beautiful city and has many hidden gems that I cannot wait to share with you all.

•   Loves - Within this section, I will discuss everything surrounding what interests me within the industry, such as catwalk and advertising reviews, some of my favourite events and VM both good and not so good. 

I just want to remind you that this is only my opinion and as an FCP student we are encouraged to not only see the good, but also look deeper and see what could be improved and where in the industry is there gaps in the market.

What's next?

Over the next couple of months, my course will really get going, at the moment I'm still trying to find my feet (Honestly Uni is the most incredible experience and I don't think you can understand until you go yourself) We can expect live projects, exciting new briefs and also a trip to New York just after Christmas (biggest fan girl moment of my life so far!) It's going to be fun trying to juggle, Uni, social life and work but I cannot wait for it to all start, and also to take you along the journey with me. I'm hoping that in the next few days I can upload a post on each category but you never know with technology so stay tuned! 

Hope you enjoy

Abi

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