J W Anderson

"There are massive gaps in this essay, it is broken and rewound, not always knowing and yet searching..."- Anon

"All that is solid melts into air...." -communist manifesto

Fashion Promotion

When researching J. W. Anderson's work I established the main themes within his pieces; contrasts in materials, forms, patterns, and gender bending, androgynous women and men in dresses. His striking contrasts often clash, and the material is clean cut and off the body. It appears as though he designs for people and does not consider gender when creating clothes. As a group we decided to try to create a collection considering these themes. We started by making a moodboard as a group for a starting point to creating our collection.

We selected images showing contrast of colours, shapes, forms and textures. As a collective we decided that our colour theme was to be blue and yellow because they contrast strikingling, and monochrome. We opted for using a mixture of heavy materials and lighter materials, to continue this idea of contrasts. We also wanted to incorporate geometrical shapes with organic ones.

From this criteria I created a mood board of my own:

As a fashion promoter my job as part of the team was to create an Advertising Campaign for our collection, create a lookbook, consider set and location for the catwalk, tickets, music and styling of hair makeup and accessories.

Makeup

I researched JW Anderson's makeup and hairstyles for models by selecting images from various catwalks and adverts. It seems that the makeup is the same for both men and women and is very androgynous. I then went on to study Androgynous makeup.



Features:

• Highly contoured face, nose, jawline, cheekbones, sockets
• Clean cut hair, slicked down, very neat
• Masculinizing female features, Feminising male features
• Full well groomed brows, darkened softly with shadow
• Minimal eye makeup, simple shadowing for shape



Experimenting with restructuring faces to create the Anderson look. I darkened and straightened the brows, raised and defined the cheekbones and jawline, and straightened the hair.



When designing the makeup for the models in our collection, I wanted to keep it very true to the Anderson style, so men and women had the same makeup. I added a soft touch of eyeshadow in yellows or blues on the upper eyelid to complement the colour theme of our collection.



I set about designing potential hairstyles for the collection, mens and womens hairstyles were to be matching.

Experimenting with the final makeup and hair on a variety of male and female models.

 Overall I like how the makeup and hair turned out, I feel like it is representative of JW Anderson's androgynous style. The fact that both men and women are wearing the same makeup is important in the blending of masculinity and femininity within the final look. I think that the soft wash of blue or yellow on the eyelids is effective because it does not distract from the clothes, it is neither feminine nor masculine. The next step would be to choose Androgynous appearing models from a variety of genders and races.

Lookbook

My aim when creating the lookbook is to decide upon a location,  and type of model that could represent the final collection. The backgrounds have to be simple, unobtrusive and complement the outfits. JW Andersons lookbook typically have plain backgrounds from a studio, or bare wall and sometimes a wooden background, whatever works best with the clothing. 

I started by creating a moodboard of a selection of images, some from Anderson's lookbook and some of potential locations. I stuck with the blue, yellow and monochrome colour theme.

Models

When considering models for the lookbook, advertising campaign and lookbook, it is important that they reflect previous Anderson models. With the theme of Androgyny the female models must have a boyish body shape, and the men cannot be to well built. The aesthetic has to be that men and women appear as similar as possible, and blur gender barriers. After studying previous male and female models from Anderson catwalks I came up with a general shape for the male and female models. 

Location

When considering potential locations for the catwalk, lookbook and Advertising Campaign I wanted to choose places which were slightly claustrophobic to reflect the restrictive nature of gender limitations. Whilst the model has broken free from gender roles the background is a reminder of the societal pressures of sticking to the gender binary. It was also important to have a plain background for the lookbook, because the focus has to be on the clothes. So bearing this in mind I went out and took photos of potential sets for the lookbook, and I kept the theme of corners in my series of photos to create the claustrophobic element to the images. I think the final images that I selected were particularly effective at keeping within the theme, they were not intrusive, they had enclosed and very raw characteristics. I would improve this series by experimenting with outside locations for the lookbook, so show some more variety within the results.
Images:

Catwalk

The catwalk location had to reflect the look book sets. When searching for potential sets I considered each location had to be industrial, mechanical, quite bare and raw to contrast with the clothes. Some initial ideas involved, empty carparks, alleyways, and derelict locations.

I experimented with both interior and exterior locations, but I found that having the catwalk outside allowed for more space for guests.

I think that the bottom 2 images work best because it is an outside location, with clear direction for a catwalk, and space for an audience. They are slightly claustrophobic, industrial and not would complement the clothes. The other locations are either too small or do not have sufficient space for the audience.

Advertising Campaign

The location for the advertising campaign had to reflect the themes of this project. JW Anderson's advertisements often involved a model against a bare background, inside and outside, stone walls and wooden fencing. I created a moodboard as a guide for the types of locations I am looking for. It was important to consider the themes of this project when choosing potential locations, such as cornering, claustrophobic and industrial. Set of images I took of potential locations:

After experimenting with different locations I decided to create a couple of experimental advertisements. They had to include the JW Anderson Logo. For this photoshoot I chose an androgynous female model, I applied the makeup that I had designed for this project.

The clothes I selected for this shoot fitted with the colour theme; blue, yellow and monochrome. The clothes had to be androgynous. The model's expression, pose and attitude had to be neither feminine nor masculine. I think this first image worked because the whole look is effectively gender neutral. The lowered camera angle is empowering, and the model is looking directly at the camera in a confrontational manner. The darkness of the image conveys the claustrophobic element to the image. However the JW Anderson logo is a little too bold, I think having it grey rather than white would have worked better with the contrast balance of the image.

This second image is more submissive, but there is still a confrontational element in the models expression. I think that the logo works better in this image and the models pose is interesting. However this image may have worked better as a landscape photograph because the models shoe is cut off. I think the contrast is a little too harsh because the detailing on the black shoes and coat are lost.

Tickets

Using photoshop I experimented with some ticket designs for the show. Each background image on the tickets is my own photograph. I took macro pictures of bricks to reflect the feel of the show. Each ticket had to have information about the show; the collection, date, time, designer, and location. I used a 'difference' overlay tool in photoshop to paste JW Andersons logo onto my images. I then selected a font 'Trajan Pro' because that was closest to JW Anderson's font.

With each image, using photoshop I edited the background images so that they were most focused in the centre and blurred slightly towards the outside. By doing this it brings the focus into the centre of the ticket where all the important information is. I also reduced the hue saturation of the photograph to reflect the colouring of the lookbook, catwalk and advertising campaign.

2 Sided Ticket Design

My favorite ticket design was the last one, which has two sides, the front showing the logo, name and show, the back with additional information. I think it works best to have it double sided because one sided just seemed unfinished. 

Accessories

When selecting accessories for the final look I researched JW Anderson's previous accessory designs. He rarely used accessories, so with this catwalk I decided accessories were not so important. I started looking for potential shoes for the models. The shoes had to be monochrome to fit with the colour theme, unisex and preferably quite geometric to match the clothes. I found a pair that my friend owned which worked perfectly with the JW Anderson theme.

A photoshoot I did with the chosen shoes:

Styling

The final responsibility of the fashion promoter is styling. Using the clothes shape designs, textures and fabrics designed by other members of the team, I put them together to create a final collection of 5 different outfits.

The results were expressive, gender neutral, and contrasted highly in fabrics and colours. I think that as a team we really captured the themes of the project. Our concept is clear and evident. I think that all of our ideas came together effectively. However the final looks are not like JW Anderson has ever done before, some designs are slightly too abstract. Nonetheless the JW Anderson inspiration is evident with the styles.