Topshop Unique Preview

Last week a friend & I were invited to a sneak peak preview of the new Spring/Summer '13 Unique collection for Topshop.  It was held in the personal shopper section of the Oxford Street store & was v impressive.  The garments were quite minimal and over sized with lots of layering & sheer panelling, mixed with a few glitzy, sequenced party dresses.  The colours were monochromatic with a splash of bright yellow and silver.  We were served champagne & canapés, and music was provided by a glam female DJ...

Dolce & Gabbana - The Italian Family

I absolutely adore this campaign!  It is from the Spring/Summer 2012 collection and every time I saw it in a glossy mag, it struck me as being very different from all the rest.  It depicts a typical,traditional Italian family, starring the actress Monica Belluci, models Bianca Balti & Simone Nobili and was shot by Giampaolo Sgura. 

The above image shows a large Italian family in a restaurant, having a great time laughing & dancing.  The use of the three generations in the family depicts a typical occurrence in Italian culture, but it also shows the audience that the D&G brand is accessible to every age.  The mother of the family is at the front of the shot, with several of the others looking up at her telling that although roles have changed and evolved for women in Italy, the mother remains the dominant figure in the Italian home.  The use of Monica Belluci in the campaign evokes a sense of glamour and beauty: she is seen as one of the most desirable women in the world, thus reflecting the brand and making it too seem attractive and desirable.  Everyone in the advert is beautiful and well presented, the males dressed in suit and collar, in mainly monochrome colours which makes the female outfits stand out, as this is what is being promoted here.  The family are all happy, singing & dancing, having a party which evokes the idea that D&G are a fun, young, vibrant company and makes the viewer want to become a part of this.  There is a meal on the table with a caraffe of wine...food and drinks are a very important part of Italian culture, and dinner time is usually a big family affair where everyone sits down for a few hours at a time.  This adds to the traditional nature of the theme here, while also depicting luxury, as food is not something often associated with models or the fashion industry.  The young boy at the front holds an extravagent looking vase, which looks very expensive and something that has been passed down the generations of the family, thus mirroring the qualities that D&G want to convey to the customer, the fact that they are high end, and their clothes are generally only affordable to the rich and upper classes.

I think this is a very sensible move for D&G, to move away from their more risque advertisements, and go with something a little more viewer-friendly and safe.  Their previous campaigns have often brought about controversy, with one even being pulled from public viewing after recieving so many complaints.

Here are some more beautiful shots from the campaign...

Photography

Photography inspired by scale & perspective

Somerset House

Pimlico

Chelsea Bridge Wharf

Nelsons Column

Chelsea Embankment

Big B

Albert Bridge

Chelsea Bridge

Albert Bridge by night

Infinity water at Chelsea Gardens

Chelsea Bridge by night

All photos my own

Reflection

Thinking back over this first term at Chelsea, I feel that I have learned a lot. This blog has been a great way to record the experiences from my educational journey in London. The study tasks given to me each week at lectures have been interesting and I think blogging my findings is a brilliant way to be assessed instead of writing a response and handing it in to be marked and never seen again. It has been extremely worthwhile, and a great, relaxed way to get back into writing. I feel that my research has been fairly thorough, equipping me with enough information to complete each task to the best of my ability. Attending lectures, making notes, sourcing key books and online information have been vital in producing each post on my blog. I feel that the content and visual information has been relevant and well chosen, and I have worked well in decision making and analysis of given resources. I worked well in communicating my ideas, being very aware that what I was writing would be seen by the public and my peers, so I was careful to present content that would be both interesting and thought-provoking, while still sticking to the tasks given to me.

I think the strengths in my blog are: good photographs, which are clear and relate to each post-I like blogs that are visually stimulating and make you want to read the accompanying text...the content is relevant, to the point and doesn't really stray off the key ideas that I am trying to debate...good presentation in the way it looks and it's layout for ease of reading for people to enjoy. Basically I wanted to make my blog fun while informative, I didn't want it to be bogged down with boring, strung out posts that weren't enjoyable to read. Weaknesses: I could maybe have posted more of my drawings and studio work but this is something that I definitely will do in the future, I plan to keep my blog up to date and carry on with it throughout my time at Chelsea, so there will be plenty of opportunities to show my work and ideas...The regularity of each post-from looking at other people's blogs, I realised that they maybe had a better pace than mine, I should have posted each week, after each lecture while the ideas and information were still fresh in my mind, but again this is something that I will improve on through time.

Print

My final taster block was print.  I have screen printed before, but what was interesting about it this time was I learned how to coat and expose my own silk screen from scratch.  I am not a huge fan of printing...I think the whole process is just too long, washing your screen, waiting for it to dry, mixing each colour of dye individually...also I am never pleased with the outcome: it is really hit and miss whether you end up with a good print on your fabric or not.  So many little things can go wrong.  However the print tutors managed to make the classes really fun and kept me interested.  I just don't think I am a print person, I never wear it & I never admire it on the catwalk or in shops.

Prints that inspired my work...

Tsumori Chisato Pre-Fall 2013

Inside the print studios...

Testing the dyes...

Experimenting...

Final Samples...

We also had a couple of days of print CAD, where we got to play around and experiment with Photoshop and Illustrator...

Catwalk images WGSN