Luxury Meets High Street | Balmain X L'Oréal Paris Collaboration

Balmain X L'Oréal Official Lipstick Collaboration Ad Campaign

Speculation about this collection started back in May when L'Oréal Paris said that soon the public will be able to "Wear Balmain on their lips". Instantly hundreds of magazines documented their thoughts on this potential collaboration and whether it will definitely happen. However, yesterday to our surprise, the ad campaign for this collaboration was officially released, and might I say it looks amazing.

True Faith Exhibition | Manchester Art Gallery

After receiving our summer brief, we also were given activities and recommended reading to do over the summer so that we could be as prepared as possible to start year 2 of Fashion Communication and Promotion. One of the recommended activities was to visit the 'True Faith' exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery. Before I went to this exhibition in Manchester all I knew was that it was about an iconic punk group in Manchester. I don't listen to this genre of music therefore it was all new to me. Therefore I had no clue what to expect.

Louis Vuitton X Supreme | Streetwear Meets Luxury

This collaboration is probably one of the most anticipated and important collaborations of the year and if not fashion history.  With Louis Vuitton and Supreme being at the top of their categories, this paring truly breaks the boundary between streetwear and luxury by creating an all encompassing collection of clothing and accessories.

Where I get inspiration

A lot of the time when I am working or have projects that at University, I often find that my mind goes blank and it is hard for me to gain inspiration. Even thinking of different topics to blog about is difficult. I know there are the typical social media sites to look at such as Instagram but everything that I generally see on my timeline is very similar, so it is hard to think of something new. 

Studying FCP | A Year Overview

As you know from my previous blog posts, I study Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University and I have just recently completed my first year. I have to say that this was probably one of the most challenging years of my life both personally and work wise, but overall it was a pretty positive experience. 

Task 3 | Big Idea Stage

As you know from my previous FCP posts, Task 3 was coming up with a final fragrance idea. As a team we took all of our ideas from task 2 and analysed our insights and creative concepts. However after weighing up the pros and cons of each idea, we finally came up with our big fragrance idea. 

Our Final Idea

Our final big idea is an energising and health promoting body spray for women that are 70+, that will help them to feel energised and motivated to rebel against modern stereotypes. We wanted to promote the importance of strength and power of women. 

Coachella 2017 | Best Dressed

Its come to that time of year again where all of us who are less fortunate stay up into early hours of the morning to watch live streams of the worlds most prestigious music festival, Coachella. This year had one of the best music line ups I've seen yet, with the likes of Lady Gaga and The Weeknd. 

However, lets all admit that we weren't just there for the unreal music line up... we all wanted to see what outfits celebs were rocking to the festival. I have to say, this year was a bit disappointing as there weren't as many show stoppers as usual. But nevertheless, there were some amazing outfits. So here are my best dressed from Coachella.

Brand Narrative and Fragrance Stories

In a recent seminar, we were looking at fragrance stories and brand narratives. The aim was to go more in depth and analyse why fragrance advertisements are the way they are.In order to do this, we had to bring in five magazines. 

For our first task, using our magazines, we had to choose a fragrance advert that we particularly liked and spend 15 minutes analysing it. We had to look at aspects such as:

Colour/Tone
Image/Filter
Narrative/Story
Location/Background
Composition/Crop
Prop/Motif
Casting/Celebrity
Provenance/Inheritance

The ad that I decided to analyse was Marc Jacobs Divine Decadence. This was an extension of the original fragrance 'Decadence'. I really liked this image as well as the fragrance therefore I chose this advertisement. 

MARC JACOBS 'DIVINE DECEDANCE' PRINT AD 

New Year New Brief | Introduction to the Fragrance Project

I can't believe that I have completed my first term at University already! The time has flown by and we have been given a new brief. Unlike last year, we are working on one subject that will last for the rest of the year. We will work through each stage of the FCP process based around this subject. 

Pantone Colour of the Year 2017 | 'Greenery'

Pantone announced their colour of the year a while a go, yet I wasn't going to write a blog post on it. However, I have been noticing it becoming a popular hue in trends for S/S 17. 

'Greenery', compared to last years soft pastel colours 'Rose Quartz' and 'Serenity', this colour gives a sense of vibrancy and freshness which is perfect for going into a new year. Pantone say that when choosing a colour of the year, they take time making sure that the colour will reflect the current events that are taking place in our global culture. So since 2016 was not a good year in terms of current affairs and world issues, a vibrant boost of Green is the type of fresh start we need for the new year. 

On Pantone's website they describe 'Greenery' as: 

A Game Changer for Gucci

It is a common fact that iconic fashion houses only cast popular and well known names in their campaigns and 99.9% of the time, these are white people. As well as this, when casting models for runway, there is always a predominantly white cast of models. 

Gucci is known for their lack of diversity and they were even called out publicly at the Business of Fashion's VOICES Summit by James Scully (famous casting director) and said that "It’s time you really investigate what these people are doing on behalf of your company...Gucci gets two thumbs down for lack of diversity."

Well, it looks like Gucci listened to this critique and decided to stray from the norm and cast all black models for their pre fall ad campaign for 2017. 

Milan Fashion Week | Jil Sander Menswear Collection Spring/Summer 2017

 So as you know from my last two FCP posts, for my summative brief I had to research a trend a trend, and the trend that I was given was 'The Purist' trend. After I researched into the historical and the cultural influences of the trend, I noticed that this trend was very prominent in a lot of Spring/Summer 2017 shows. 

My favourite show was the Jil Sander Menswear collection for S/S 17 at Milan Fashion Week. I thought that this collection was really effective as the colour palette and different structures worked really well with each other. Jil Sander was one of the main pioneers of minimalism in the 90's and she has adapted these classic pieces and created a modern twist on them which I think is really effective and striking. 

Backstage @ Jil Sander Menswear S/S 17 show 

New Year New Trends - Fishnets

A new trend alert for 2017 is fishnets. They are completely taking over the street style scene with major designers from Moschino to Alexander Wang incorporating them into their designs. 

To most, this material is very intimidating and one of those things that most people ponder only to come to the decision that "I'd never be able to pull that off." However, fishnets are coming in more and more variations from the classic tights, tops and dresses. This means that there is something for everyone. The classic tights are having a major comeback this year and all you need to incorporate these into your wardrobe is the right outfit and some inspiration. These differ from the standard tights as they can add a fashion forward and street edge to any outfit. 

The Purist | What is it?

For my summative brief, I was given a trend that I had to research. I had to research into the visual, historical and cultural background of the trend as well as look at origins, connotations, developments, updates, subversions, connections of your trend.

The trend that I was given was The Purist. Initially I was discouraged because I had never heard of it and thought it would be hard to research but after starting a Pinterest board for the trend (previous post), I became a lot more confident in what the trend is and what it promotes. 

What is The Purist?

A mood board I created using secondary images

The Purist  a trend focusing on providing a futuristic and modern twist on wardrobe essentials, by exploring beautiful asymmetric lines with a slightly relaxed and oversized silhouette. In this trend, garments feature sculpted shapes, which add to the elegant and effortless aesthetic resonating with minimalism. Despite The Purist portraying simplicity, the architectural stature of the garments as well as luxurious materials and the variety of understated print and pattern, enable wearers to convey a sophistication. 

Summative Brief

I can't believe that I have finished my first term at university already! It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in the lecture theatre for welcome week and now Ive been given my first big individual project to complete over the christmas break.

The purpose of the summative brief task is to take us through each stage of the FCP process and see if we have learnt all the information given to us throughout the first term. We will be assessed on how well we can apply this information to a new task. It is a report document, that will include research into a fashion concept, developing a variety of Big Ideas, creating a set of mood boards, producing an image/ set of images to be used on social media. 

As part of the brief, we were given a trend to research. We had to look into the history and cultural influences of the trend, as well as the way that it has effected industries other than fashion. The trend that I was given was 'The Purist' trend. I had never heard of this trend so naturally I began to panic. So in order to come to terms with it, I decided to use Pinterest as this is a great way to visually research something. Creating a Pinterest board for the trend really helped as I was able to see exactly what my trend was. Overall, I collected over 150 pins. Here are some screen shots from my board:

DKNY resort collection S/S 17, Calvin Klein and Jil Sander designs

R.I.P| 3 beauty trends that we should leave in 2016

2016 was the year of excessive makeup tips and new 'trends'. Being a makeup obsessed teen who spends the majority of her money on makeup, I was excited for all the new trends and products being released. However, to my disappointment, half of the trends seemed like a complete waste of time. People have become so extra to the point that they are adding features they never had and reducing their body shape through excessive makeup. 

So I decided to pick three of the trends which I hated the most. 

1|Faux Freckles

Polka dots or faux freckles?

The Execution stage pt 3 | Final idea and images

After lots of brainstorming, the next stage was  to come up with an idea for the shoot. Initially we wanted to use dance as the main theme since this was the main theme for Day's shoot. We first thought of doing it outside in the dark and using street lamps as lighting. Then we would have a model doing a dance pose and we would throw coloured chalk in the background to represent vibrancy and movement. Here are some of our brainstorms from this idea:

The Execution Stage pt 2 | Photoshoot prep

So now that we know what our creative concept is, we were then given a product that we had to use as the main prop/theme of our shoot. We were given makeup, which meant that we had to incorporate this into our shoot somehow. Since I am makeup obsessed, I was ready and rearing to go. 

For the next stage, we needed to come up with 5 key words that we felt reflected the elements that were present within the original shoot, in order to inform our photoshoot. These words were:

Degraded Glamour
Isolation
Intimacy
Grunge
Raw

We chose 'degraded glamour' because we felt that the shoot was inspired by a french photographer called Brassai, who was known for capturing the dirty/gritty side of behind the scenes at dance shows in Paris. I felt that Day portrayed a similar vibe within her shoot as all of the images looked as though they were backstage before a show. 

The next word we chose was isolation. Looking at the photoshoot, there were a group of women but there was one main girl that was always staring into the camera whilst the others just looked like props. When I was analysing the shoot, I thought that the message within the original editorial was that despite the fact that many people can be included within a show, there is always a main star and the focus will always be on them therefore we chose this word. 

The Execution Stage | Corrine Day style photographs

I was so excited to find out that Corrine Day was the photographer for the editorial we got and that we had to shoot in her style. I love Day's photography as there is always an element of rawness to the photographs as they aren't overly composed and unrealistic. As well as this, it looks like all of the subjects that Day photographs look like they trust her which means that the outcomes of the photos are very relaxed and not forced which add innocence and I think this is effective.

Its a boy girl thing! | The evolution of the makeup industry

Benefit Babes! Patrick Starr, Kathleen Lights and Manny MUA (left to right)

Finally! The conventional and outdated stereotypes of mean and women within the beauty industry are being pushed aside thanks to the younger generation changing the way things are done by celebrating self expression and individuality.  After decades of it only being acceptable in society for females to wear makeup, the beauty standards are shifting with more and more males entering the makeup industry.