GIVENCHY FALL 15

Ten years into his run as creative director Riccardo Tisci's is still bringing fire onto the catwalk.

It wasn't just the dresses that made the difference, the outlandish hair and makeup made the show express its edge with conservative that Givenchy has.

Though the some of the style of clothing may look recognisable, it was the darker and alluring execution which made the collection one of my favourites from the FALL 15 shows.

PERFUME REFILLS?

Thierry Mugler is doing his part for the planet – by allowing the millions of women who purchase Angel and Alien fragrances (some of the most popular fragrances on the market) to refill their glass bottles at department stores. I recently saw this whilst shopping in Nottingham City Centre. 

I find this idea to be effective and beneficial as it eliminates the waste and disposal of fragrance
bottles. 

Lionel Uzan, Mugler’s marketing senior vice president in the U.S had commented on this:
'For us, it makes sense sense to avoid wasting. We made the [Alien and Angel] bottles very precious — they are not disposable, and we never envisioned them that way. We save so much glass [with the Source]. As of today, there’s a bottle being refilled every seven minutes worldwide.' 

KANYE X ADIDAS

Yeezy's latest collabortion, this time with Adidas, had been inspired by the London riots. 

The collection took 18 months to create and the catwalk debut was all staged by Italian performance artist Vanessa Beecroft. 

West discussed his fashion inspiration and influence in a new interview with Style in which he also opened up about how he does does not read reviews of his designs. At one point in the interview, West describes himself as "the Robin Hood of fashion" as he feels "there's some information in it that can help people have better lives".

What do you feel about the recent collaboration? 

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

MARK RONSON x FENDI

DJ Mark Ronson as the face of Fendi's 'Fan Di Fendi' mens fragrance...not quite what I would have put together.

Even though I am a fan of Mark Ronson's work I didn't understand why Fendi would have chosen him to be the face of their fragrance. Personally, thinking of Fendi I find it embodies a classic, traditional value not themes that I find relate to Ronson.

As great as the campaign looks with Ronson suited elegantly in a suit, I can't help but feel an older gentleman would have suited the role better and signified the themes of Fendi, as Ronson looks baby faced. Many men I find don't know who Mark Ronson is, or know what he looks like as he spends most of his appearance in his videos shaded or in the background. Which leaves me to think why Fendi decided to front this campaign and wondered if an older and more classical male would have been more suited...

MARK RONSON x FENDI

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

KRISTEN STEWART x BALENCIAGA

Actress Kristen Stewart as the face of Balenciaga's 'Florabotanica' perfume, a good choice or bad?
Personally, I thought it was a good move by Balenciaga...

When the campaign was initially released I wasn't 100% on board and couldn't think why Balenciaga would choose Stewart as the face of their campaign, however I was basing this around Stewart's awkward performance in Twilight even though I am a huge fan of the franchise, please keep reading!
I then began to analyse the brand and what attitude it expresses when I envision it: an edgy, minimalistic, to an extent rocker chic.... all which symbolises the style of Stewart.

I admired the black/white background with only the roses popping with primary colours, which I felt embodied the bottle of perfume in reality. I feel Balenciaga have chose well with selecting Kristen Stewart as their face as I feel Balenciaga reach out to a younger generation and by featuring a celebrity well known and almost relatable, minus the celebrity part, they connect to their intended edgy audience.

KRISTEN STEWART x BALENCIAGA

TRADITION & HERITAGE

In my opinion a theme which is classic and you immediately say the brand first. I used images which I felt uniform and match to the brand well. I used campaigns from brand such as; Hermes, Dior, Guerlain etc as I felt those brands are known for their traditional brand values and express those values through their perfume advertisements. I kept the structure similar to my 'trust and honesty' moodboard as I find the themes to be similar in style sense. The font I used was a crisp yet classical style which I felt fit with the theme.

HUMOUR & KITCH

There are no rules when creating this moodboard! Fun, crazy, colourful are the 3 words that immediately come to my mind when thinking of humour and kitsch, the rare time a moodboard can be busy and wild! The images I used are the epitome of this genre of fragrance, I used inspiration from carnival and festival fonts to match with my moodboard which express the wackiness and no boundary zone this genre has.

TRUST AND HONESTY

With my second moodboard I wanted to express a minimal and fresh approach to connate all objects natural and purist. I kept the images crisp and clean, by lining them all orderly and keeping them all in proportion. I used a simple block font style to represent the purist and natural elements.

SENSUALITY & INDULGENCE

I decided to create dedicated mood boards for each categorised fragrance advertisements.

For this moodboard I chose images which I thought expressed the feeling of seductive and the sense of desire. By this being the chemistry between the models and the use of strong colours connotating to the campaign of the advertisements.

I used a font with a curved yet soft style to represent the 'story telling' vibe these campaign's express.

CREATIVE NETWORKS

PERFUME

Today, I learnt some key elements of perfume communication and how to categorise a specific theme of a perfume.
We went over the four main categories which are mainly identified of perfume adverts.

SENSUALITY & INDULGENCE
Objects are desirable, forbidden, seductive. The biggest storyline is relationships and the the key narrative is sexual chemistry. Example brands are: Alexander McQueen and Ghost, particularly this image which uses lighting creating a silhouette and an 'ombre' effect to create a depth in change.

GHOST

TRUST AND HONESTY

Strips away the glamour from most perfume advertisements. Seen as purist, spiritual and authentic, more of a realistic and natural image. In the 90s almost every brand stripped away colour and became anti-glamourous. I have noticed this in recent campaigns, like Narciso Rodriguez who features an natural and bare faced model in their campaign and following a grey colour palette. 

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ

HUMOUR & KITSCH

A witty and youthful approach to perfume advertisement. It features a brighter palette and has a maximum amount of content rather than minimal. 

JUICY COUTURE 

TRADITION & HERITAGE

Category which suits/matches the brand. A question raised most of the time, is the perfume staying by its heritage or moving away? Hermes are a perfect example as they 'own' the colour orange and the majority of their advertisements feature the colour orange. 

HERMES

This lecture was intriguing as I wouldn't have noticed this specific categories for these themes and gave me a deeper insight into the understanding of perfume communication. I particularly am fond of 'trust and honesty' as it emotes a realistic and natural approach to perfumery to which it is not overshadowed by the glamour of a perfume advertisement.

Happy blogging!

WANG AW15

Alexander Wang, being one of my favourite designers, I was excited to see the AW15 show but was not as pleased as I thought I'd be. I thought I'd be glad he'd stepped away from sport luxe but in fact I missed the placement of mesh and boxing shorts. I did admire the structure of some garments and secretly wanted to reach out for some outfits from my laptop screen, but seen a repetition of some outfits throughout the collection. I may keep moving from negativity which may be biased from me as he is on of my favourite designers!

WANG AW15

Your opinions??

BBC PERFUME DOCUMENTARIES

'FRAGRANCE IS LIQUID LUXURY'

After watching the 3 parts of the BBC perfume documentary, it made me see perfumery in a different light.
Part One, explained how perfumery can be expressed as a story. It made realise how important marketing can be to sell the fragrance as well as the smell of the perfume. This episode featured two household brands, Tommy Hilfiger on the launch of their perfume LOUD and House Of Guerlain. Two very different company brand identities, it was intuitive to see how traditional House Of Guerlain is and how they cater to the sophisticated audience and rely on the older generation of mothers to introduce their offspring to the brand, which almost seems as a rite of passage or tradition. I found this part touching when the mother took her young daughter to a scent smelling, and how gentle the customer service was as opposed to the forced and abrasive selling techniques used in the metro super shops. I appreciate the old fashioned technique of perfumery seen in Guerlain, but worry that this will eventually fade and only be exclusive to luxury consumers and perfume will only be seen as a hesitant push from popular marketing rather than the actual smell of the bottle.

House of Guerlain, Paris

The process of the launch of Tommy Hilfiger's LOUD, was insightful as they make ten varieties of the perfume until they settle for their chosen one. The music and overall theme of the perfume advert worked well with the preppy brand but I felt this is where the perfume industry is moving into only consumer selling rather than delivering a true perfume. Whereas I feel Guerlain should feature advertisements to express the importance and history of their brand, an advert like 'LOUD' would not bode well with their identity.

Part Two, was comical in a way. I didn't know that the 'natural', literally, ingredients are included in some perfumes! Christopher Brosuis bottles up smells which include beef and soil which surprisingly are doing well for his brand! It was interesting to learn how some consumers are sick of sweet smellingg perfumes and I'm all for natural products, but has this gone too far from the concept of fragrance and wonder if it will last?

Part Three, holds a perspective into what perfume could be in the future. Learning that Brasil has the most successful and biggest market for fragrance and London and New York are only test runs to be included in Brasilian markets opened my eyes to the possibilities of perfumery. By learning the popularity of Brasilian market, it opened my eyes and made sense why, the hot climates force many consumers to purchase larger bottles to fight the odour.

I enjoyed watching these documentaries, as it prepared me for the next module and I learnt areas of the perfume industry which were new to me!

Happy Blogging!

HEGARTY

HEGARTY ON CREATIVITY

Part of our reading week tasks, we were assigned to complete a reading of a short book, 'Hegarty On Creativity' written by John Hegarty.

It may sound strenuous to read a entire book during our reading week but I made my way thoroughly through the book within a few hours. I admit, I struggle to fully engage with some recommended reading materials but, this book was completely different.

I found it to be a learning experience rather than only reading to give a review.
I found it to be inspiring and once finished I felt creative, no really.

One of chapters which stood out to me and I found relatable were pages, 104-105. FAILURE.
This section was the most inspiring as failure is one of the life virtues which I worry of. By reading and re-reading this section I somewhat feel at ease with the possibility of failure and being comfortable and accepting the reason for it.

'Recommended' reading has no longer become a chore. Hegarty is worth a read if you're feeling uninspired or need the 'push'.

FASHION MOVEMENT

1920s MOVEMENT

For my fashion movement choice, I chose the era of the 1920s, the 'flapper, jazz and attitude' era.
It is an iconic symbol of the fashion industry as it was the evolution of the 'flapper girl'. The 'flapper girl' embraced popularity and had a 'modern' approach to life in that decade. More commonly now referred to as the 'Gatsby' era, I only became obsessed with this decade's fashion and lifestyle after Baz Luhrmann's creation. Since then I have used any excuse to mention and feature this movement.

I created a mood board which I feel embodied that decade.

My 1920s Representation

I chose to do a grid approach, in my own style, as I found this composition incorporate with this decade well.
Since only starting to ever create my first mood boards during the last module I found the process gains you more inspiration into creativity. I also found that I have improved on which image goes well with each other and use my photoshop skills to create a professional image.


Until next time!

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