Fashion loves Crime- Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton

Known for their provocative and erotic aesthetic spin on photography, both Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton broke the rules in terms of conventional high fashion, by their use of fascinating and uncomfortable narratives that told absurd stories in order to advertise products through imagery. The subjects of their photo shoots?  Blood, crime, despair or death, in the most glamorous yet unsettling form possible.

 Both photographers use their imagination in their work to form a surrealistic combination of a 20th century suburban desperate housewife or sophisticated prestigious women turned psychotic killer or consequently, victim of abuse. Bourdin especially dismisses all forms of morals and standard in his work by distinguishing a vision of outrage, and disturbing notions that cause him to almost forget about the advertisement of the product. Instead, he centralises the distressed beautiful model at the scene of the crime, leaving his audience questioning the well-being of the female due to the nature of his chilling photo shoots. Furthermore, for a greater intensity, and in visual contrast to Newton, Bourdin uses his peculiar artistic ethic to create a composition of exaggerated energetic colours that dominate the image and arguably, connote that there is still life and existence in the shot due to the vibrant hues. However, in reality the lens is filled with nothing but negativity and sadness.

For instance, if we look below at these images by Bourdin, the striking, vibrant hues that have coloured certain aspects of the image e.g. the blood, the knee high socks and the telephone box, all draw the viewer in straight away because of the power and distinctiveness the complex tones have in contrast to the other aspects present in the photo which offer a more neutral, cold and crisp colour palette. Therefore, the women's nude lifeless corpse and the rural deserted settings of nature and fields become secondary in these narratives.




Bourdin uses a narrative that would be usually considered as childhood friendly or associated with fictional storybooks and leaves a disturbing allure.


The photographer also leaves his audience questioning the current status of both women.


However more appropriate to the subject of communicating style, Helmut Newton presents an editorial, fashion conscious set of images to display his narratives. Whilst he still plays on themes of crime and the mistreatment of humans, as observers of the images, we find ourselves distracted by the clothing or accessories that are present in the shot rather than what is going on around the models. Therefore, we receive a different feeling from Newton's work to the one we do when we look at Bourdin's.
Furthermore, Newton's photographs have a greater focus on beauty and an obsession with the female silhouette as we see a lot of his work present women in lingerie or figure hugging clothing. His hybrid of themes such as portraiture, sexuality and a subordinate female gender portray a decadence of life through his New wave vignette filter. However, at some points he almost becomes too provocative with his work but artistically he manages to conceal this controversy by replacing it with elegance and structure, forcing people to dismiss the erotica of the shots.

Out of all the images I have included, Newton's photo shoot of Elise Crombez in Vogue US 2003 is the most similar to the work of Bourdin due to the emphasis on blood. However, unlike Bourdin, Newton's colour scheme remains subtle throughout.


Elise Crombez in Vogue US July 2003



Prada 1986 by Helmut Newton Campaign




Thierry Mugler, circa 1995

Man Repeller - Leandra Medine

Platform sneakers, wool crepe peplum skirts and MC Hammer style harem pants, we've all been there, and if we haven't, at some points in our lives we've at least pondered secretly about these fashion fads, waiting for someone else to hang their head in shame to also liking these trends. I know I am guilty of this. Leandra Medine however, a role model to all acclaimed fashion bloggers in the making today, carelessly outfits herself in attires that, to majority of women, represent a daring sensation of true style and confidence but to men, maybe not so much...
 In her popular 2013 semi-autobiographical book, Medine's rollercoaster of up and down fashion moments leave her readers in tears of laughter, cringing at the reflected similarities in their own lives and a sense of self-esteem that she influences, in order to push girls to be proud of what they wear and to be the person they have always wanted to be. Medine wears her heart on her sleeve (literally) with her experiments with fashion that she has harmonically wrote about in each chapter of this quirky style obsessed book.

 What started out originally as trying on wacky and eccentric clothing in Top Shop's dressing rooms turned out to be the most comedic approach to high fashion in social media history. Although Medine is so immersed with fashion, her distinct concept is executed in a way that allows her to stay relevant in today's fashion society, by creating a cyber subculture for girls to relate to across the globe. We can read hundreds of fashion articles over and over again but do we really learn about those physical experiences and key life moments that each purchase brought or the feeling when you tried on your first pair of Manolo Blahniks?  Medine described her book to be "based on the notion that the female memory is so driven by fashion" and I can't help but personally agree with this statement myself.

  In each chapter of this witty book, Medine retrospectively takes her readers back to the fashion disaster or epic statements in her life that truly brought her to become the Man Repeller she is known as today. Whether she is actually successful in pushing men away with her weirdly wonderful garment combinations, or ironically an absolute colossal fail and does the opposite, we follow her life lessons through to the last chapter as if they were our own in this not so serious take on very serious fashion.

 As a fashion student myself and also in the process of writing this blog, I could not have picked a better book to read in my spare time for guidance and an insight into the development of such an inspiring light hearted blog. Although this was a gift given to me for my birthday and I wasn't too sure what to make of it at first, it more than fit the criteria for the style of book I was in search for. Especially to feed my interests in fashion outside of my university work. So all future and present fashion students, those especially wanting to start up a blog, go out and buy this book! 

 The book Man Repeller is just the introduction based on her first steps into the global fashion blogisphere and her memories during the creation, but to carry on Medine's story, visit her blog at http://www.manrepeller.com to follow Medine's informal charismatic blog posts about fashion, personal style, collaborations podcasts, beauty, culture, trivia and a certain section she likes to call 'Dick shun ary' (obviously it is meant to spell dictionary, but it wouldn't be Man Repeller without Leandra's natural goofy humour dominating the home page. For one, she did invent the term Man Repeller.)

Features from Man Repeller's Personal Style page:

 Medine's own definition of the term:
Man re-pell-er- outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls, shoulder pads, full length jumpsuits, jewellery that resembles violent weaponry, and clogs.

Fashion Icon- Arvida Byström

A Swedish Photographer, yet London based artist and cyber created vision of candy floss dreams, Arvida Byström projects her ideology of life across the internet with force, to deconstruct the barriers of sexual segregation, gendered identity and to protest a new aesthetic of beauty in the 21st century. Alongside her role as a photographer, Byström has also modelled for a series of independent and resolutely contemporary magazines such as I-D, Dazed, Fake Magazine and Rodeo Magazine and also, for modern, youth-led high street brands such as Nasty Gal, Urban Outfitters and Top Shop.

What were her influences to create photography and art with such iconic controversial displays of femininity?

Well, as majority of us in the Gen Z demographic would say, we grew up in the age where digital cameras were everywhere just like Byström states in her interview with Urban Outfitters. However, Byström's photographic vision differs to other because she offers something quite uncomfortable when it comes to the subject of female sexuality which has taken her interest for a length of time now. However, she also presents the theme from her own perspective. A perspective, as she told Urban Outfitters, that changes quite regularly. In another interview with Dazed and Confused she expressed that “You can't just make ‘feminist art’ because feminism is more like a spectrum of things; it changes and depends on its context”. Therefore, Byströms work does not just remain at one narrative but explores other qualities of life that as viewers, we may be unexpected to see and anticipate to see what she has to offer next. Although she wouldn't categorise herself as a complete fledge feminist, she still manages to create something far from typical, rather wacky and excitingly free with regards to art based on beauty of women. She does this in order to radicalise the internet, whether other feminists agree with her vision or not. In conclusion she communicates that there cannot just be one mediocre feminist view in today's society but instead, a variety of different explorations of how female gender should be presented in this cultural diverse world.

Arguably a lot of Byström's work displays motifs that would stereotypically be ones that would be associated with that girly childhood phase filled with Barbie dolls, unicorns, fairies, pastel pinks, glitter, and glorified costume like garments. However, Byström chooses these themes to ironically communicate something a little bit more serious and grant an allowance to the people of her generation, to redefine these age associated motifs and let people see them in a more mature, creative way. Her message? Why should only ten year old girls dress up as glittery pretty mermaids wearing tinselled tiaras and get away with it?



Byström for Faith Conexion featured in Dazed and Confused Magazine (Autumn/Winter edition)
Photographer- Mel Bles
Stylist-Ellie Grace Cumming

#NastyGalTruthOrDare by Arvida Byström
With Mancation for Nasty Gal

Link to video included: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k1J3e3nb00

 

Rodeo Magazine shoot by Bystrom

 

           

Fake Magazine 2013 shoot by Bystrom

Collaboration with Vanesa Kronglod 2013
Photography and modelling by Arvida Byström

(Image credits: All photographs I have included are taken by Arvida Bystrom, Mel Bles for Dazed Magazine or credited to the Nasty Gal website/youtube account.)

Fashion Week Friday Favourites - Albert Feretti

Alberta Ferreti Spring Summer 2016 Ready to Wear.

So I thought I would introduce a new element to my blog today to give myself the opportunity to look at what designers are doing at the moment for their upcoming seasonal collections. So here is my first blog post for my Fashion Week Friday Favourites! I intend to pick out the most impressive and sensational catwalk collections that are happening right now or a few throwbacks to the Spring Summer Ready to Wear runway shows that were debuted across London, Milan, New York and Paris for the next year. I also intend to include those designers in my opinion that are experimenting with nouveau styles, to project themselves onto a platform above other competing brands that they certainly won't be coming down from any time soon. That is until Autumn/Winter 2016 Ready to Wear of course.

On the topic of fashion brands that are hitting the bulls eye in terms of trend at the moment, surely I can't be the only one that is noticing that Gucci's Spring Summer 16, 70's inspired geek chic aesthetic collection is taking over every fashion magazine or photo shoot right now?! I intend to talk about this collection in next week's post but this consumer brain washing fashion fixation is one that is dominating the industry right now and we can't seem to escape from it, but as fashion observers, I don't think we want to either. Alessandro Michele can only be praised for his revolutionary revamp of the brands image that his predecessor, Frida Giannini had been working on for eight years.

Anyway, to start off my weekly review I chose the Italian dress maker Alberta Feretti, a desirable cultured designer and a definite favourite of mine. When Feretti first started brainstorming for her SS 2016 collection, she neglected her Italian heritage and prioritised the creation of clothing that portrayed importance of freedom and easiness, whilst still acknowledging romance and sexual allure for women to devour and indulge in. "The desert is free, there’s movement, there are possibilities," were her words back stage as she set the climate for a hazed desert that heated the runway up with her choice of deep, earthy, warm hues but also ones that hydrated the audience with a refreshing modern outlook onto delicate black laces, ochre coloured gauze and beige patchwork suede shift dresses. A silhouette of dress that we were seeing time and time again to be categorised as a 70's trend but due to Feretti's design, she has revitalised the look and turned it into a Native American suited creation.

 In her collection, Feretti channelled the look of a nomadic traveller in the desert, however, she expressed that the desert had no origin, therefore giving Feretti the scope to embrace the freedom that was subject to her narrative. Due to the subjectivity of her theme, this gave Feretti the allowance to travel off into different directions in terms of styles to further her vision of an exotic wanderer of the desert. As fashion observers, we even see a few explorer and safari influenced garments strut down the runway that also supported Feretti's desire for relaxed, effortless and easy worn fashion.

Feretti does not just limit herself to solely the theme of nature's desert in this collection but instead, she distributes a youthful hipster trend of the laid layers effect that arguably channels a vision of an edgy, bohemian, Coachella girl that Kendal Jenner and Vanessa Hudgens were sure to be asserting with style earlier this year at the festivals answer to a plush red carpet event.

Whilst she devotes elements of her collection to this popular culture key style, she then goes onto add to another concoction to her cocktail of trends by creating a cultural hybridity of fashion. Feretti incorporates ancient Egyptian patterns and Greek silhouettes to her garments to continue the elegance, lavishness and richness her brand has always been noted for. By doing this, Feretti demonstrates that she can maintain her brand identity and the supremacy that it has built in terms of detail to dressmaking over the past four decades. Whilst she also showing that she can attract many different geographic origins due to the Americanisation and popularisation of trend that she has captured for 2016 summer.


 

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Next weeks review will be about Gucci's Spring Summer 2016 Ready to Wear

Thanks for reading!

Kate x