Anselm Kiefer with AttRAct at The RA

AttRAct Anselm Kiefer workshop - Caroline Wong

Anselm Kiefer inspired painting - Caroline Wong

Today I attended an AttRAct workshop on Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy of Arts. I was able to participate in the general discussion about the artwork prior to entering the exhibition and then went on to present my favourite piece post viewing. After this, I was encouraged to create a Kiefer inspired painting using numerous different painting mediums.

Kiefer's early work is my favourite. A lot of it is political and his paintings often reference Norse mythology and religion. As he was 'born in the rubble' of World War 2, a lot of his artwork looks into Germany prior to Nazi power and was often seen as scandalous. It wasn't until he moved to France that he began to garner interest in his work. In Germany, his work talked about the many taboos that had really only become taboos because of their association with Hitler. One famous example is that of a battle the Germans won against the Romans. Hitler however used this example of Germany beating a powerful army in his speeches and when Nazi power collapsed, referencing the Roman battle became something no one could do. Kiefer looks into returning power to Germany by looking past their Nazi period and revelling in their other successes. However, his approach can come across as a little 'in your face' and I guess it is because of this misunderstanding that his work never took off in his home country. There's a lot of imagery used in Kiefer's work and spending an hour in the exhibit was not nearly enough time to really get a look at the paintings. Each painting appeared to have more to it that it seemed. A lot of them told stories, or illicit curiosity. 

The workshop resulted in creating a Kiefer inspired painting where we used numerous mediums ranging from paint to PVA to sand and dirt. It felt nice to let loose and experiment as we were given the choice on whether or not to reference a selection of photographs. I chose not to, and am glad I didn't. The resulting piece I created is the creation of my own emotions at the time- light greens for a brightness, dark greens for the longing to go to the countryside and black and grey for an inner turmoil.

STRUCTURAL ATTACHMENT PROJECT FINAL OVERVIEW

This project as a whole has been eventful which is why I've felt the need to sum up all my thoughts in a post starting from the beginning of this project to the end.

My starting point for this project has always been psychological attachment. I am always interested in the human mind and psychology and my A-Levels were in Art, Biology and Psychology. The topic of psychological attachment seemed like the best way to marry my interests. My starting point for the word 'structure' came from everything that is the opposite to the usual connotations it has. Usually, structure makes one think of large robust buildings, heavy metals etc, but I wanted to look at it in a lighter light (pardon the awful pun) and decided I'd focus on fragility and dainty structures.

I first looked into my friendships. The art foundation had been underway for a few weeks and I still didn't have a proper idea in my head. I knew I wanted to do psychological attachment but the spectrum was too wide and I had no idea what I wanted to do within that realm. My friends were all started to slowly move out of London and I had a two week period of tension headaches due to the stress of it all. Personally, I am someone that relies heavily on my friends as they're my support network and when I went to the hospital fearing a brain tumour after a week of violent head pain, I was told it was probably due to my subconscious dread that my friends were moving away. With that knowledge, the headaches only began to subside one week later and my medication was 'Calpol, lots of water and fun times with friends'.

My best friend called me one day that week to ask how I was and it was then that I decided I would look into relationships between people as my field of psychological attachment. Since friends were on my mind so much, it made sense to look into the emotions that come with attachments. For example, babies often cry when their mothers leave the room and this is because they're psychologically attached to them. In the same way, I was feeling low because my friends had all moved away.

The two themes merged into one when I began looking at twins as a step up from friendships. I've known a few pairs of twins and they always seem like the best of friends. They typically live together, have the same friendship group and can even be identical to each other. Furthermore they were born from the same sperm and egg. This idea of birth fit in with my idea of fragile structures and this is when my headpiece designs took off in an alien/embryo/amniotic-sac-esque way. My inclusion of this headpiece in a final piece would incorporate 'structural' accessories into a very 'attachment' focused concept.

Another tangent off of twins was to look at Dr Seuss' characters Thing One and Thing Two. No one knows exactly what kind of creatures they are but they could be friends or twins, who knows? To tie in with my structural concept, I created simple headpieces out of thin wire resulting in a big 'One' and 'Two' for my models to wear. This would capture the essence of Thing One and Two which was derived and inspired by best friends/twins whilst also maintaining a stance on being a dainty structure.

Moving on into applying these concepts, my editorial looked into my original feelings of missing friendships. The emotions felt and portrayed in the photos are supposed to mimic that of an ending friendship (read: psychological attachment) and so the expressions shown by the models aren't happy but more subdued and sad. With the film however, it is the opposite. I wanted to explore the realms of psychological attachments and their implications on our emotions to the full extent and so I looked into how I would portray the happiness that comes with relationships and friendships.

As a whole, I have learnt a great deal through this project about myself, about the industry and about the subject in general. I've learnt how to take an idea, turn it into a concept and finally take it through to realisation. I've learnt how necessary it is to conduct thorough research and I've felt proud being able to use my own knowledge to help others. Watching my project and everyone else's projects bloom from the beginning stages into great final pieces has been the greatest reward for me along with the knowledge and skills I've picked up along the way.

STRUCTURAL ATTACHMENT FASHION FILM

I have aptly named the final film 'Troublemakers'. It was awfully hard coming up with a name but I think that Troublemakers sums up the concept pretty well. I am probably 90% happy with my film and would add the extra 10% had some of the shots been sturdier through using a tripod. However, I am extremely pleased with the way I edited the film.

The focus on the scarf isn't too pushy which I guess can be seen as both a plus and a minus for an advert campaign. It's not 'in your face' which consumers will like but I can't say how well the film sells the product. The final film is also more tailored to children's wear and I think this is due to the playfulness of the footage so I don't mind. As this was the concept I was looking for, I am glad it turned out this way. I think that if I were to use children in an advert for womenswear, it would definitely have to be serious and demure (like Karen Walker's sunglasses campaign).

The Youtube description is as follows:

'Troublemakers' is a fashion film responding to the title, 'Structural Attachment'. It focuses on the fun side a psychological attachment has by showing the playfulness between two twins. 

Styling/Film: Caroline Wong 
Model: Marlene Ko 
Clothing: unbranded (from Copenhagen), Disney store
Scarf: Stylist's own, handmade
Headpiece: Stylist's own


With the film focusing on psychological 'attachment', the elements of 'structure' are small. In order to incorporate 'structure', my model wore the crown headpiece I'd made for a small section of the film right at the beginning. The headpiece was inspired by fragile structures such as embryos and amniotic sacs and this was my way of incorporating the two words into one film.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 12 (editing process)

Editing on Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014 - Caroline Wong 

Editing on iMovie - Caroline Wong

To edit my movie, I used iMovie and Adobe Premiere Pro. The reason for using both is because I like that on iMovie, you can see the clip you are working on whereas on Premiere Pro, clips come up on the timeline as blocks and nothing else. Premiere Pro however is more professional and as I needed to crop the frames of clips, iMovie wasn't able to offer this function. This resulted in me using Premiere Pro to create the framed clips before importing everything into iMovie and creating the final film there.

During the film workshop, I learnt how to create composite clips where more than one clip plays on the screen at the same time whilst showing everything. I also learnt (through a mistake made when filming our fashion film) how to go about fixing clips that didn't quite fit together through zooming in and out to adjust the perspective. All of these skills acquired came in handy when editing as I used 4, 8 and 16 point garbage matte's on all the clips being cropped into different shaped frames. For the clips that didn't quite line up, I was able to use my previous knowledge on how to solve the problem and managed to save those shots (example shown above in Premiere Pro screenshot). All composite shots and framed shots were mounted on a white background as I was referring to my previous research into one of my favorite fashion films 'Hurricane Irene' by Jminism.

Editing took the longest amount of time as I was using a remix of Stevie Wonder's superstition as my backing track. In order to get the editing perfect, I had to ensure clips changed at every beat drop (which happened more often than not). The resulting film is very fast paced and as you can see above in the iMovie screenshot, a lot of the clips were sped up to either ensure that the entire thing could be shown (as I was unwilling to cut out a few things) or to match the feel of the film.

On iMovie, I was also able to play around with the white balance, exposure and contrast that I had made a note to do when storyboarding and experimenting with my shots. Because we had filmed inside without any proper lighting equipment, the white walls appeared to be rather yellow on camera despite adjusting the white balance on my camera. By further adjusting the white balance on iMovie, I was able to get the shots to seamlessly go from white wall to white background on the framed shots.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 11 (storyboard)

Fashion film storyboarding - Caroline Wong

As I was unsure of how filming would go and what shots I would get in the end given the fact that I was working with an overly sugar-loaded 3 year old, I created my storyboard and experimented with the shots I got after filming all the footage. Again, I couldn't create an accurate storyboard of events as the music I've chosen is very fast and it is therefore impossible to create a sequence without making a lot of mistakes given timing and clip lengths. To create a sequence would have been a waste of my time and so I worked around this problem, instead choosing clips I definitely wanted to include, cutting the frames down to how I would want them in the film and piecing together a few clips that work together so that I would remember their relationship.

Above you can see where I have decided I will split the clips. I like the way different frames in a music video can look (see here for an example) especially when they change in time to the music. The resulting film is snappy and makes you want to re-watch. As I am thinking of this film as a television advert, the want to re-watch is very important and the film needs to be memorable so that viewers decide to head out and purchase the product.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 11 (creating a product)

Product research - Caroline Wong

With the mindset that my fashion film was now an advert and therefore a marketing technique, I looked into what 'product' I should be selling. By looking back at the AW14 catwalks, a standout accessory at the shows were large or long and oversized scarves (seen at House of Holland, Acne, Christian Dior etc). 

As I know how to hand knit, I thought I would make the scarf to be used in the film because I thought it would help me really visualise the film as an advert selling a product I've made. It took me just under 3 days to complete and I wanted it to be so oversized that it would drown my 3 year old model. The scarf was made of blue wool that had varying colors in it, channelling Acne's blue designs (pictured above) whilst also sticking to my blue monochrome color. In the film, my model will only wear blue dresses and props will also only be blue.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 9 (Fashion film concept board)

Fashion film concept board - Caroline Wong

As mentioned before, the concept for the film is to act as the opposite to the editorial. The editorial looked into emotions in psychological attachments such as those felt when friendships temporarily break up. This was influenced by my current situation where my friends have moved away from home to go to university out of London. However, as the film is looking into the positives of a psychological attachment, I've collected images and fashion film stills that sum up what I want my final outcome to be like.

The story of the film are a pair of twins (played by my cousin) who play practical jokes on each other and are generally just playful characters. To do this, I will be editing my footage in such a way that it will seem as though there are two of my cousin. As shown above, I want to use numerous split screens because it's a way to make a film more interesting and vibrant. 

Karen Walker used children for her Forever 2nd Summer 2013 advert campaign and the images have been a constant reference point in my research. Whilst it would have been fitting to use sunglasses in my fashion film, I will be using a winter accessory as the film is supposed to be tailored for A/W. At the moment, I am thinking of creating an accessory myself and as my film's concept is somewhat inspired by Karen Walker's campaign, I am going to use this fashion film as an advert for a knitwear brand. I want the film to look as if it could be televised and used as a clothing advert, either for kids or for womenswear. 

STRUCTURAL ATTACHMENT EDITORIAL

Blue Without You - Caroline Wong (October 2014)

These are my images for my editorial. The photos used are both digital and film photos and I used shots of the location we shot at to emphasise the concept and theme of psychological attachment throughout the spread.

Dennis Hopper 'Sixties Snapshot' at RA x UAL

Roaming around during shift break - Caroline Wong (11/10/14)

I was given the opportunity to help work at 'Sixties Snapshot', an event run by the Royal Academy of Arts in conjunction with UAL and inspired by Dennis Hopper's exhibition, The Lost Album. The night was based around a 60's vibe and as Hopper's photographs are black and white, we were asked to dress the same. There were numerous events going on varying from the opportunity to get your nails done a la nailtransphobia, dressing up 60's style and taking photos to be printed out by the Instagram booth downstairs in the lobby to helping stage an art revolution (see photo above).

My role during the night was to promote the hashtag #dennishopper which people could use on Instagram to get their photos printed downstairs. Through working on the event, I was able to meet an array of people- those working in the offices at the RA as well as other students. I was also able to see how people reacted differently to Hopper's photos whilst also thinking about my own reactions.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 8 (post production editing and editorial formatting)

Editing on VSCO - Caroline Wong 

Editing on Lightroom - Caroline Wong

Editing on Photoshop - Caroline Wong

My decision to use real life friends of mine as models had both pros and cons. To be brutally honest (and also quite harsh), whilst some of the images came out in such a way that even I myself was surprised by, a few also came out looking rather awkward. Whilst I believe I prepared enough by collecting a number of images for a pose board, I should have been aware of the way a camera can be imposing. Whilst I used my models Lisa and Rose because they are both very good friends that are very comfortable with each other, there was often an awkward positioning of the body which could have been eradicated were my models professionals. Either way, I stand by my decision to use two friends as I've been looking into psychological attachments since my starting point was spurred on following a phone call from my best friend who's now moved away for university. The only thing is that the awkwardness could often be felt in the images and so editing took a long time and was a lengthy process.

Starting with the images that weren't so easy to edit- these were mainly standing poses. To try and get the images to work, I started playing around, making the usual tweaks and adjustments (exposure, contrast, hues etc) but to no avail. I then decided to experiment with different levels of saturation but when comparing black and white images to the other more pretty-and-pastel like hues, I found that they didn't quite work as an editorial in a series of photographs.

As it were, I'd tried to fulfil my wish to document in film and I'd captured Polaroid photos of each of the outfits. It seemed like all the images in the Polaroids came out rather well and I found myself wishing the photos captured had been taken digitally instead. Thinking more about the editorial, I began thinking along a tangent of what sort of magazine these images could be featured in and I came to the conclusion of Zeum Magazine- a young and upcoming magazine that started in Canada. With that in mind, I began thinking about how I would format the editorial were I to incorporate the Polaroids I'd taken in lieu of the digital images. 

My editorial focuses around psychological attachment and so each element to the photographs is important. Whilst some are more important than others (for instance, the models' expression and poses), the other factors all also contribute to the overall feel of the shoot. This led to my decision to try out setting the polaroid pictures on a background image of the locations I'd shot at. Originally I'd tested out formatting the images and didn't like the way the polaroids sat on the page without a background. The white edges of the photo blended into the page and visually, it wasn't appealing. 

After asking around to gain some other opinions, there was a unanimous 'yes' to placing the polaroid photos on another photo as a backdrop. I went around the location (which is my house and the houses nearby) and took photos I thought could work as backgrounds. Later, when it came to testing them out with the polaroids layered over them, I found that the images that weren't busy were the most successful. Those with housing in the background didn't quite fit and it was the photos of bedding and walls that worked the best to keep up an ambience. 

When editing, I usually tend to use mobile apps as I can sit and edit whilst travelling without having to bring a laptop with me. However, when I was experiencing trouble with the images, I then moved the images that weren't working into Photoshop as Photoshop obviously offers a wider array of tools and tricks to use. One such change I made to an image on Photoshop was to change the coloring of Lisa's knee high boots. The trim on the boot was green and brown but as my monochrome color is blue, I spent a frustrating amount of time editing the boots until they looked as if they were naturally made blue and navy. When editing, I also played around with Lightroom as I thought it would be a good idea to have a play around on it whilst my friend was sat next to me using it. Lisa (Dunt, not my model) was really helpful and taught both Christele and I how to navigate our way around Lightroom before leaving us to experiment ourselves. 

This has been a learning experience for me as I've been able to see what problems can occur during photoshoots and I've also been able to fix those problems through my own accord. I've been able to learn more about Photoshop (through forced learning) and have come to understand the programme a lot more. I was also introduced to Lightroom which is similar to Photoshop and I think I will continue to utilise these editing softwares in conjunction with my mobile applications. Through thinking a little bit more about where the images would be were it an editorial for a magazine, I managed to get past looking at my photos as mere images and start to see them as material for a fashion magazine.

11/10/14 - 'Dalston Anatomy' by Lorenzo Vitturi

Hairy orange, yellow balloons and rotten camote #2 - Lorenzo Vitturi 

Before my shift helping out and working at the Royal Academy of Arts, I took the time to hang around The Photographer's Gallery and see the exhibitions up. I first saw 'Dalston Anatomy', a series of photographs of structures Vitturi created made from things he'd found at Dalston's Ridley Road Market back when the exhibition first opened. After seeing it on the contextual studies sheet, I decided to revisit to refresh my memory.

I've always been interested in concepts such as this. My favourite kind of art is art with meaning, as ridiculous and pretentious as it sounds. Art that can illicit questions are my favourite. What's more enjoyable than having an internal debate over something in front of you? There's no right or wrong, only your opinion and what you yourself take away from the image in front of you. 

Dalston Anatomy, for me, combines the idea of ephemeral objects that will soon disappear or decay with the vibrancy of a market that can often be missed. Through the use of the found materials, Vitturi was able to create new sculptures that were often either left to rot or had pigment thrown at it. The ones with pigment are the most interesting to me. Whilst the pigment sometimes only accentuates the objects, often it also changes the subject of the photograph, morphing it into something else or obscuring it completely. My favorite photograph was of what I believe is a some sort of animal organ that has been covered in a lush green pigment. The object used is now completely changed. It's no longer a sort sight for eyes. Instead, it's transformed into something beautiful and pleasing to look at. 

What's more is that I can see the vibrancy of the colors acting as a means of preserving these ephemeral objects. As a lot of the sculptures photographed are either decaying matter or foods that will decay soon after being photographed, there is a real emphasis in my mind on the purpose of the pigment other than to create striking images. The use of pigments and other means to conceal the faces on portraits could also mean many things. On one hand, I thought it could be talking about the fact that without the color or concealment, many shoppers at the market would look and interact with the market stall sellers but never really remember them nor care even. Covering the identities of those sellers creates an air of curiosity- and people start to wonder who they are and what they're like. On the other hand however, the pigment could have simply been used to protect the identities of those Vitturi photographed.

I won't review the exhibition as a whole as I will probably mention my thoughts and opinions on the show in my contextual studies essay but Dalston Anatomy was an interesting exhibition to go to. The questions I had when I first visited were still there the second time I went and on my most recent visit, I actually found that I had a few ideas and answers to my initial questions. 

SA PROJECT UPDATE 7 (pose board for photoshoot)

The models I am using are both friends of mine who are also very close to each other. I decided I would use my friends as I felt that this way, the emotion captured on camera would be less awkward and the models would be far more comfortable posing in potentially quite cosy positions. None of the poses I have in mind are even remotely sexual but I can see the problems even just standing quite close to someone you don't know can be.

The poses were taken from magazine editorials and advert campaigns. The main focus was either on interlocking limbs or having a closeness that only comes with familiarity. The poses done in the shoot are the most important given the nature of the concept.

10/10/14 - Test shooting my accessory

Chantelle in my headpiece - Caroline (10/10/14)

For this test shoot, I shot Chantelle using my favorite medium of film photography. Given the lack of time I had and the nature of my process when it comes to film photography (I've been known to take over a year to finish a 24 exposure film), I decided to use my Polaroid camera as it produces photos instantly. 

Thinking about the editorial itself, I would prefer to capture everything on a film camera as I like the quality it gives but I will probably resort to digital photography and post production editing to mimic the feel of an analogue photograph.

The photos of Chantelle were done simply to show the details of my accessory. Thinking about it in retrospect, I should have used a macro lens on my Polaroid for the close up I took- this would have helped to have achieved a clearer shot.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 6 (hair and make-up research for photoshoot)

For my editorial, I wanted to keep the hair and make-up of my models minimal and natural looking as the story isn't flashy and is more demure and relatable. For inspiration, I looked at beauty shots from the SS15 catwalks and found that I liked the make-up used at Stella McCartney, Balmain and Chloé. Skin was left dewy and looked baby smooth and the whole face was usually pulled together to look simple and somewhat angelic. 

Since I wanted to really highlight the naturalness of the models, I have thought about accentuating certain features of different races. For example, Caucasians can often have freckles and rosy cheeks and so I would ensure that these features are accentuated. As I am pretty sure that my models will be Oriental (as they are two of my very good friends who are also good friends themselves), I want to accentuate the dark discoloration that many Oriental women get. This will be done with a brown eyeshadow. 

For the hair, I wanted to have a style that would look good on both models whilst also being naturally effortless. When looking through the beauty shots from this season's shows, there was a recurrent trend of middle partings and slightly messy bed head-esque hairstyles so this is what I'll be doing. I'm pretty sure I've said it far too many times (because every time I need to say it again, I have an internal battle over whether or not to) but as the editorial will be focusing on psychological attachment (there we go!) as opposed to a psychical attachment, most of the images will have natural hair and make up that will help to not deter away from the subjects in the photographs.

On another note, I may also look into using hairstyles that can interlock the two models together- perhaps through plaits that will weave their hair into each others. This could be another way of showing attachment in a more literal way.

08/10/14 - Making my Headpiece

To make my accessory, I used the molten and gluey plastic cup samples I'd made along with the balloons I'd dribbled PVA over. I initially started off making the base circle to my model's head diameter and later glued sections of the plastic cup pieces to the frame. More strips were added later to make the accessory look more crown-like. As the film I'll be using the headpiece in is going to have a fun concept looking into the positives of a twin relationship, I wanted the accessory to not only fit with the model (a 3 year old), but also fit in with the overall atmosphere of the film. 

For the areas of the headpiece that have bits hanging off of it, this was entirely accidental. When stapling the balloons together and glueing them to the plastic strips, I found that the shrunken PVA wasn't holding up well and was peeling off of the balloons more than normal. In a bid to stop myself from getting too worked up and distraught about it, I moved to a mirror and put the headpiece on myself, fashioning the precarious pieces and rearranging them in such a way that they would tumble over the eyes and look quite soft.

The resulting accessory has a number of different ideas being projected onto it as it was born from strange concept. The fragile PVA strings are a direct link to my interest in dainty structures. On the other hand, the PVA strings are derived from an initial idea which was to turn balloons into embryo-like structures. These sacs link to the molten plastic cups as they both remind me of amniotic sacs and amniotic fluid which protect babies whilst they're in the womb and the initial focus on babies and their origins came from looking into twins and their psychological attachment to each other.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my accessory as it has the dainty features I was looking to create and keep. Were I to improve my accessory, I would have gone on to make another version- one on a much larger scale which would have kept within the fundamental concept whilst being a lot more bold. I would also have tried to find a way to ensure the 'amniotic sacs' stayed in tact because whilst I really like the way the PVA peeled off of the balloons, I also wish there was a way for me to incorporate the original samples too, not just ones discovered whilst making. 

SA PROJECT UPDATE 5 (location shots for photoshoot)

Location shot 1 (neighbours' driveway) - Caroline Wong 

Location shot 2 (brother's room) - Caroline Wong

Location shot 3 (bedroom) - Caroline Wong

 When scouting for locations, I wanted to keep the feel 'homey'. Since I'm looking into showing psychological attachment between twins and best friends (or any other similar relationship), I thought it best to think about the references these people give to their other halves. A best friend can be a hypothetical 'home'. You will most likely have grown up with your twin at home. You can feel 'at home' with someone you're psychologically attached to, someone that you love.

This homey feel led me to look for quintessential London housing exteriors and I took a number of photos of driveways and garages that had red brick peeking into the frames. The bedroom shots show something more intimate which I liked as I'm sure I'll be able to work with the models to create images that reflect an underlying sadness in psychological attachments.

For the shoot, I'm looking for backdrops that are as plain as possible so as to not deter away from the models expressions and the story I'm trying to tell. Bedroom walls will be plain, and duvets will be stripped so they are white and bare. I think this will also help to reflect whatever lighting I have which will give the photographs a softer quality.

06/10/14 - London Trail

Celine store, Mount Street - Caroline Wong (06/10/14)

Celine concessions, Selfridges - Caroline Wong (06/10/14)

Given any opportunity to go into Central London and have a wander, I will take it. Usually I stick to my usual back alleys. I like to flit around the routes I know best which are usually off the beaten track and around Soho. Only today, when faced with a list of roads and streets I had heard of but hadn't been to, I was forced to forget about my usual haunts and get exploring new places.

My favourite street was Mount Street as it is home to a number of flagship stores as well as an antique store that kindly let us look around as members of the small group I was exploring with were interested in it for their design research. Since I'm interested in applying for Fashion Buying (and Merchandising/ Management/ Branding depending on the specific course), I wanted to utilise the day as a means of getting a good look around London stores.

I ended up noting down the similarities and differences between flagship stores for brands and their smaller concession areas in large names like Selfridges and Liberty. For example, the Celine Boston and Phantom bags were sold in numerous bright colors in the flagship store whilst Selfridges only stocked the more classic colors. This is most likely due to the nature of the customers. Those heading to the Celine flagship store are interested in Celine and only Celine. Those going to Selfridges are more likely to be interested in buying a black designer handbag, whoever the designer may be.

Whilst the trip hasn't informed my project, it has helped to consolidate my knowledge of retail which I will need to write my personal statement and talk about in interviews. It was a fun day out with a notion and I especially liked going around in a group as we were able to bounce enthusiasm off of each other and look out for each other too. In the fabric stores, I think the others found it very helpful to have another 3 pairs of eyes on the lookout too.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 4 (outfits for photoshoot)

The outfits I've styled for the photoshoot have been styled to reflect the story of the editorial. Twins tend to be dressed alike when they are young (and sometimes this even goes on into their teenage years). To show this, I created outfits for duos that all either share a similar article of clothing or physically share the same piece of clothing.

For example, one set of outfits features two pairs of shoes that are similar in design. The only difference between the two is the color (one is grey, the other white). Another outfit set features both models wearing long navy coats, baggy sport shorts and a shirt that reveals a little flesh. Some shots will be styled so that both models are wearing and sharing a piece of clothing and this will probably work best with coats. This will help tie in with a more literal representation of 'attachment'.

Using the wire Thing One and Thing Two headbands, this is going to be my way of incorporating the fragile structures I've been interested in into my editorial. Having the models wear these will also help to portray the story I want whilst also helping plainer outfits photograph better.

SA PROJECT UPDATE 3 (Concept boards for editorial)

Editorial concept board- Caroline Wong

For my editorial, since my project is about psychological attachment, I've realised that I want to tell a simple story that is relatable. The story for the shoot is about two girls who could be sisters or best friends and they're going through a situation that makes them feel the heartache an attachment can cause. What the situation is is open to interpretation but in my mind, the two friends are leaving each other as they move away to different cities for university. 

For the concept board, I've looked back at my initial inspiration of the 1995 Kenzo advert and since I wanted a simple story of two friends, I decided I'd keep the editorial 'homey'. I've made references to London streets, bedding and groups of girls. Bedding connotes intimacy, something that is involved in any relationship be it sexual or not. The other images are to show and remind me of the atmosphere I want to create- something street, relatable and sort of reminiscent of 90's girl gangs.

As the attachment and structure side to my work will be shown through the models' expressions, I'm happy that I have the freedom to create any shoot that will work to highlight this. 

03/10/14 - Creating my accessor(y/ies)

Photo shoot headpiece samples - Caroline Wong 03/10/14

Today I worked on creating my pieces for my photoshoot as the film headpiece requires a lot more time and space to create (more about that later). I took myself off to Hobbycraft in the search for blue wire but when I created my wire 'One' and 'Two', I thought they looked a little lacklustre. On top of that, when photographed, they barely showed up on the model. It was a minor problem. Whilst I didn't want the headpieces to be super imposing, I did however want them to at least appear on camera.

This led me to pulling out some of the haberdashery I have at home and I found two blue shades of gingham ribbon. After experimenting with tying them around the blue copper wire headpieces, they became a little more showy but without all the unwanted pizazz. They became classic and girly, which was exactly what I wanted.

PVA balloon deflating - Caroline Wong 04/10/14

PVA balloon almost deflated - Caroline Wong 04/10/14

 For my film headpiece, I went home and began experimenting with PVA glue and balloons. As I was using a hot glue gun to melt through plastic cups, it naturally led to thoughts of how to use glue and other materials. Inspirations bounced off each other as I began to think about my cousin, her young age and the things that children like. That, added with the constant thought of Thing One and Thing Two's playfulness ended up with me purchasing balloons in two different blues.

I'm very happy with the way these turned out as I suppose they're similar looking to an amniotic sac. As I've been looking at psychological attachments in friends, siblings and twins, birth has no doubt also been a focus of mine and I find it interesting how birth can be considered the start or even just a stage of an attachment between twins and between a mother and child.

As the process of making these balloon structures is rather messy and involved setting up a temporary washing line across the width of my conservatory, I was unable to carry out this work at Ravensbourne and instead did it at home, leaving the PVA to dry overnight and then proceeding to pop the balloons the following night (hence the yellow lighting in the photos). It was a lengthy process obtaining these samples but I'm definitely pleased with the results and will be incorporating these into my design for my film headpiece which I am yet to design.

The use of balloons has given me a few ideas for structural designs that will be more impressive than the prim wire headpieces I'm making for my photo shoot but I am still working towards creating this next accessory. It needs to be fun and playful, much like two of the muses for my project.

01/10/14 - 3 accessory workshops

Headpiece designs for film - Caroline Wong 01/10/14

Headpiece designs for photo shoot - Caroline Wong 01/10/14

Above are the designs I have decided to go on and create. Whilst creating the numerous designs during the workshop, the ones that I especially liked and thought fulfilled my vision for my shoots were these. 

As I don't think my designs for my film headpiece are challenging enough, I'm planning on designing a much wackier headpiece for my cousin but I first need to do some more research. For the photoshoot headpieces, I'm not planning on creating anything too structural. Whilst this may seem like a cop out and that I'm not trying my hardest, I want to emphasise that my reasoning behind this is justified. 

As the photo shoot is going to highlight a longing in a friendship and the emotions that go on when one leaves their best friend/ any other person they are psychologically attached to, I do not want the headpieces to be too fussy. Instead, I want them to be simple but still show the meaning behind the shoot. The pieces I designed above reference Thing One and Thing Two's defining feature of their clothing/body. As the shoot I am planning will be focusing on emotions, I don't want to create anything that will deter away from this subject. Make up will be minimal, hair will be natural and the sole focus of the shoot will be the relationship and attachment that the two models show.

Stand work 1 - Caroline Wong 01/10/14

Stand work 2 - Caroline Wong 01/10/14 

Stand work 3 - Caroline Wong 01/10/14

Working on the stand wasn't quite as enjoyable as designing on paper was. For me, I wasn't able to carry forth my ideas for my designs and put them on the stand as the photocopied images of the plastic weren't good to work with. In this case, the photocopies of the bobbypin structure I made (and found to be useless on Monday) came in handy and I was able to utilise these to carry out the workshop. 

As I haven't been able to work on the stand with my headpiece designs, it makes me a little apprehensive and worried about creating my piece but I'm confident that I'll be able to work it out either way. I really like the work I produced on the dummy but it's unfortunate that I can't make it tie in with my project this time round as my research has already gotten me so far. 

These pieces would be great were I not looking and taking inspiration from duos (Thing One & Two in particular).