Saturday 25 April 2009

The making of the fashion shoot 'Day Tripping'

Last weekend after jumping through several hoops I managed to gather a photographer, a model, a make-up artist, two stylists and some muscle men to help create a fashion photo shoot for a project as part of my class work.

The 6 page shoot is intended as a supplement for Farmers Weekly! I love writing that, the link between farming and fashion is rather tenuous at the best of times (anything waxed, rubber or wipeable, not to be confused with the porn industry!) and yet we have noticed it cropping up into our everyday fashion. Whether it is the yummy mummy's of West London in their Hunter Wellies and gilets marching darling little Sebastian about Primrose Hill or the cool kids of Brick lane wearing tweed shooting jackets and flat caps while trying to indifferently look like they have some purpose.

My supplement taps into this interest but it is for the youth of rural England and young farmers. If you are not aware of a young farmers way of life, allow me to introduce you to John*, we met at a farmers wedding. He- monobrow, cider belly, ruddy cheeks, a penchant for girls aloud, and a large milking herd, me- agog at the brow and scared at being propositioned. My dad nearly had me married off to this one. Don't think you're forgiven.

My research has shown that these rural communities encourage high levels of depression from the isolation and the all consuming work of farming. Therefore my solution is fashion! and also travelling, dating and news, a lifeline of popular culture in a few glossy pages. Ta-daa!

The shoot is 'Day Tripping' and its theme is country chic with a twist of feminine everyday style. It was shot in Ally Pally park and these are a few amateur pics I took, the finished ones I will pop up later.
Katie in make-up.
Alexis doing Katie's sun kissed look: alexismday@yahoo.co.uk

Katie wearing vintage Aquascutum jacket, boyfriend ripped t-shirt, denim shorts and tasseled suede boots. (all charity shop)Floral maxi from Debenhams sample sale (20p! Thank you Pip!) Lace gloves vintage.

Traffic People white chiffon blouse, H&M Bubble skirt, Hunter Wellies.

* I used a fake name. You never know when a rich farmer in want of a wife might come in handy!




J'adore les fleures

Yes British weather is world renowned for being ridiculously temperamental. We have to layer up our clothing for hailstones to blistering balmy sun and endure lithe tanned Europeans laughing at us as soon as a smidge of sun pops out and we are all pink, semi-naked and developing sunstroke.
However the sun doing all that in out in out shake it all about business does make a good recipe for the classic ditzy riot of colour that is the English countryside of blue forget-me-nots, white cowslips and yellow daffs. It is a delightful change of colour after the black of Londoners fashion and the black of the tube, even bogeys here are black!
I have flowers in jam jars, in my hair and on the prints of my dresses. I also find greenfly floating in my cups of tea, flys under glasses (its the legs, it's unnatural to have so many legs, I can't just shoo them out the window) and house spiders on curtains, but they are worth it.

Taken in Alexandra Park.

Monday 6 April 2009

Wibble wobble wibble wobble jelly on a plate

For the past few weeks the luke warm sunshine that has been filtering through my curtains and blindingly waking me up at an anti social hour of 6.30am has actually prodded me into doing some exercise.

Learning how to stay alive during the months of enduring cold (I'm not being melodramatic, I'm from Somerset and it was bloody freezing with our record breaking winter!) involved a lot of baking of classic British puds. The apple crumble was successful unlike the stint at making toffee, which just ended up as a tray of stubbornly un-solid gloop which Dave (housemate) likened to what his bum produces after a heavy night out. appetising.
However the carbs and the sugar have happily settled around my tum to merrily jiggle when I walk, run or laugh almost in a jolly Santa belly shaking fashion (hopefully exaggerated in my mind but is a good-bad-warped incentive to do something about it)

First I tried running, jogging or yogging with a soft 'y' (sorry for the Anchorman quip!) but other then being thoroughly knackering, I just sort of felt stupid in my non Nike trainers and lack of i-pod to distract me from my red to the point of self combusting purple blob that had replaced my head.

So then I tried my sister's work out dvd, some sort of class of perma tanned, day glow grinning, lycra encased bevy of beauties Eric Prydz would have hired on the spot. Yet conversely because there wasn't an audience I couldn't be bothered to finish what I'd started. The mystery of my exercise problem was getting cryptically Goffmanesque in its roots.

And then I found this 1950s perfect bikini in Primark (I know I've gone over to the dark side...but then if Nike can reform after all they exploited out in the sweat shops of the 90's then surely Primark has a conscience...maybe) The version I bought has heart detailed buttons and combined with the ditsy print it is just right for the public swimming pool and the support of the top stops it letting your, er, inflatables float free! Not only is this lovely piece of lycra a bit of old Hollywood glamour on a budget, but it shall be my incentive to swim, tone up and be more hair free in all the right places!


It's not really suprising that I'm hooked on mybigwardrobe.com when my shopping psyche is this commercially brainwashed...sigh!