The Stylist Den

August 12, 2012

Styling and shooting: New Vintage

(Final pictures shoot here. Online shoot here)

Finally went back to styling after almost a three months stop. But it was worth the wait :-)

I've been waiting and looking, infact for am excellent project to come along. No more free test or uncertain submissions. I've done my share in the past and it's time to get to the next level.

I got it right this time with a commission shoot for a magazine by photographer Yuji Watanabe, who lives in Paris and was in London for a couple of weeks.

Some quick fact about this shoot:

-I used designer, boutiques and accessories for Brighton :-))

-Developed the concept of 'New Vintage' to highlight the nature of the Brighton creatives I used

- Shot in Rotherhite as I did back in November 2011

- Ended up with 75% Japanese creative team (photographer, MUA and Hair stylist) and I loved it!!

- It was a quick shoot :-) (only 5 hours for hair, make up and 7 outfits)

The following pic are the ones that I took backstage, so they are not as beautiful as the real ones but they give you a pretty good idea of the overall mood.

August 8, 2012

Stephen Jones: King of Hats

I've been thinking about writing a post about Stephen Jones for a while now, as he and his wonderful creations kept popping up all around me since I visited the exhibition 'Fashion and The Flag' here in Brighton. Then, yesterday the sad news of Anna Piaggi death, one of the most loyal fan and friends of Jones. That's why I put the picture above as the opening of this post, to celebrate and remember her, her style and on going collaboration with Stephen Jones.

I then bumped into his hats again as part of the Hatwalk event across several statues in London and finally when I bought the latest issue of LOVE. As well as a feature about him, in the magazine, his hats are all over the place :-) - in the fashion shoots and in the very last page in which Laura Stone wears a hat from the Marc Jacobs AW12 show.

You may not know every piece from every collection of Stephen Jones - I don't, anyway - but his creations are very much like a 'Chanel suit': unconsciously you know them as you've seen them on the catwalk (e.g. They were on the Vuitton and Marc Jacobs Aw12 shows).

I'm not going to write and encyclopedic piece here, so if you want to know and see more you can check either his website and Wikipedia.

August 6, 2012

Fashion+Art Collusion

Hope you don't my my cut-and-paste 'art work' above. My collage/photoshop skills are a never ending work in progress but I don't mind to play around with layers and tools every now and then.

As part of the Olympic related events and celebration of Britain design the V&A put on the display 'Britain Creates 2012: Fashion+Art Collusion' that closed on July the 29th. I just made it in time to see it few days before, when I was supposed to be in London for a shoot and ended up spending a great afternoon at the V&A :-))

There's no need to talk about the link between art and fashion, how much they influence each other or discussion if fashion is art and if art can is fashionable and trendy. Let's just admire the following collaboration between artists and designers and notice the different approaches that the pairs took: some went for a conceptual one ( Chalayan), complemented each others work (Peter Pilotto, Willliamson, Korkwood) or found a common ground/skill (Jonathan Saunders=screen printing, Mary Katrantzou=digital).

I particularly loved the latter :-) as I'm always really amazed by Katrantzou blow out prints.

Jonathan Saunders + Jess Flood-Paddock