SA PROJECT UPDATE 1

First concept board - Caroline Wong

After my meeting with Becca, I realised that I hadn't been focusing hard enough on the actual project at hand. The hypothetical kick up the backside pushed me to pick up where I'd left off/ never really started and I began thinking about ways to portray psychological attachment since this is what I've been most interested in since the beginning.

My initial thoughts took me to my friends and family and a phone call from my best friend who's now living in Bristol for university led me to head to the study zone and pull out the September 1995 issue of Vogue and the February 1996 issue of Elle. These are the months that my best friend and I were born in and I thought it'd be helpful to explore this period especially as I still wasn't sure how I was going to go about this project. With no idea where I was headed, I thought this would be a way to actively seek direction.

Looking through the magazines led me to the Kenzo 1995 advert and Dolce & Gabbana 1996 advert. The Kenzo advert showed a number of models lying down holding hands, dressed in bright but minimalistic clothing and I liked the styling of the shoot as it's similar to my own sense of style. The D&G advert showed two female models embracing each other and I took them to be friends, perhaps even best friends. This led to something of an epiphany moment when I was back on my way home- I wanted to use two models in my shoot in order to show psychological attachment.

When I got home, I began looking into famous female duos- the most intriguing being Thelma and Louise from the 1991 film named after them. Whilst they are fictional best friends, the film highlighted their friendship and bond with each other and the way they protected and cared for each other struck a chord with me. What was most attractive about the film was the ending- the viewer is led to decide whether or not they want the ending to be happy (where the women escape the police and live) or sad (where the women drive on and plummet to their deaths). In my case, I found that I was most excited by the latter. The poignant end to their lives whilst the car drives off the cliff into the air connotes something of a 'friendship lasts forever' scenario. Through looking at Thelma and Louise, the basis for my models' poses and expressions for the shoot have begun to develop.