#found the full costume on depop...not my size

[vector-to-the-heavens]

i want the dokidoki sr madoka so so bad but my size is on backorder and won't ship out til july...my only con this year is in june

[citylawns]

what are those websites you recommended? sorry if you already answered this but i cant find it - also! do you know the name of the docs you posted? i love the stitch detailing on them

The Docs are the Church/Monkey Boots! There will be loads secondhand, don't pay full price for them. Take it from someone who worked for that company for 4 years lol. They're my fave style of docs I wish I had taken a lifetime supply when I was there.

eBay is the best secondhand website! I use it for so many things it's really worth it once you figure out how the filtering and search system works. I love it because you get high quality for cheap and it feels like a treasure hunt :')

the next one I use is depop - it's great for curated secondhand and vintage. I look for shops that sell styles I like rather than using the search function, when you 'like' items the algorithm shows you more of that kind of clothing and there's a 'suggested for you' page that works really well. it's more expensive sometimes but it's worth it imo because you're paying for people to curate selections for you which is the labour you would do by hunting yourself, just depends on whether you enjoy that or not!

another great one is vestiare collective. some people have issues with it because they have apparently purchased fakes even though the platform has an authentication system but I'm not the kind of person who buys high resale value designer so I'm never worried about that lol. you can set up saved searches for wishlist items like 'Ann Demeulemeester Boots (filtered by size, country it ships from, colour, etc)' and then every time there's new items added you can scroll through. It works best for me when I'm looking to buy from a specific designer and get inspired rather than searching for a specific item. Here are the brands I love searching for on there:

one I would use if I lived in the USA is the real real! this is the goat. insane clothes for dirt fucking cheap but only if you live in the US because shipping and customs to the UK is prohibitively expensive, like over £100 so it's not worth it for me to buy an £18 designer dress. although I've been considering it recently for an item I'm really in love with.

the other ones I browse through but haven't purchased from yet are vinted and thred up. the search function on vinted was a little annoying for me to use but its good once you figure out how to filter out all the SHEIN and H&M and fast fashion. it's another one that's good to search by brand/designer but people can be really lazy on there and size and list things incorrectly, rip labels off fast fashion items and market them as "x style or x inspired" to put them in the mix of results when you search for a specific designer.

my personal tip is when you're out shopping and see something you like, make a note of the brand/designer. do this on depop too when browsing through shops that sell styles you like, then take that designer/brand and search for it on the other platforms. for example I found one of my favourite brands Costume National that way, so I always search for them on ebay, vestiare, etc

btw if you want a link to any of the items you see here just let me know bc I'm not gonna purchase any of the stuff I have shown

[mayawanelik-blog]

PEP160 Reflective Log

1) My first editorial idea is to re-create a selection of iconic old paintings of women. I’ve carefully selected my models to identify people who best resemble the women in the paintings. For each of the selected paintings, I'll try re-create the model's pose, the lighting situation and the painting's emotional mood because they constitute the most essential components by which a given painting can be identified. I’ve decided to take all my photos against the black background to make them look more like a consistent series. The only thing that I’ll be changing is clothing and accessories. I’m going to use the clothing of similar size, texture and colour, but my clothing will be streetwear of the present times. I’m going to shoot this project in a studio in order to have full control of the lighting.

Being interested in streetwear myself, I observe the hype around the streetwear brands like Nike, Supreme, Burberry, North Face, and other sportswear brands, and I'd therefore like to make a photographic comment on this current social phenomenon.

For my research, I looked at Nina Katchadourian, who re-created old-fashioned Flemish-style paintings in lavatories of 200 flights:

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/photography/sa-flemish.php

I like the creativity of these self-portraits and their comedic nature. Her work made me think about whether I'd like my photos to be humorous or serious. I decided to create (semi-)serious pastiches rather than parodies.

I also looked at Maisie Broadhead's exceptional-quality work:

http://www.maisiebroadhead.com/

She re-interprets old paintings and historical images. She uses complex set designs and lavish costumes which add a theatrical quality to her work. Her images mix contemporary and historical components that link the past and present by identifying enduring social and aesthetic narratives.

Other photographers that I looked at for inspiration were: Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Mark Borthwick and Tyrone Lebon. I found many painterly-like features in their work (some of their work references actual paintings) and tried to find inspiration for how to make a photograph remind the viewer of a painting. In particular, Meisel’s work inspired me to use a black backdrop for all my photos as this should help the viewer to fully concentrate on the model’s pose, facial expression and clothing.

It took me some time scouting my models and styling each portrait. I managed this task by picking profile pictures of several people and then placing them next to the relevant painting, and finally selecting the best match.

I can imagine these portraits being published in the PYLOT magazine as they have a strong fashion narrative but are also artistic and quirky. PYLOT promotes alternative fashion and art, so my images would fit there rather well.

One thing I regret is not photographing men as well for this project as it would be even more thought-provoking to reflect on aspects of gender-fluidity in 'Mona Lisa' or 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. However, I intend to pursue this idea in the future.

2) For my second double spread, I decided to use some of the work I did during London Fashion Week (LFW) in February this year. I was commissioned to shoot for one of the world's leading manufacturers of colour cosmetics, INGLOT:

http://inglotcosmetics.com/

This was INGLOT's debut in LFW with Kristian Aadnevik:

http://www.kristianaadnevik.com/

Apart from photographing models on the catwalk, I decided to photograph life behind the scenes too. I wanted to capture the intense atmosphere before every catwalk and the raw experience of all people contributing to their success. I accomplished this aim by shooting from low angles and using unconventional perspectives. I tried to create an honest representation of what is going behind the scenes.

I selected the most striking and telling LFW photos for this double-spread series. I also wrote a piece on how models' well-being can be compromised by their career in the fashion industry to accompany my series of photos.

I’m using the Huck magazine as reference for the layout as I find that this particular magazine draws attention to many social issues and therefore they may be interested in publishing my series as a documentary piece. I've pitched my idea to their News Editor, Michael Segalov, and he came back with a positive reply, remarking however that he wasn’t sure if people would be very interested as LFW was a while ago. I intend to e-mail him back explaining that my series contains a more universal message and, if desirable, I'll take more photos during the upcoming fashion shows to expand this work.

As an inspiration for this project, I looked at the following LFW photographers: Ella. H, Jean-Luc Brouard, Lillie Eiger. Also, I read many articles about LFW and the fashion scene in London in general.

I’m happy with my photos in this series, but I wish I had more time to speak to the models and perhaps to get some quotes from them about how they felt in that moment in time. It seems fair to say that some of them looked vulnerable or stressed, and therefore having quotes from them would add to the impact of my photos.

3) For my third double spread, I decided to look at streetwear in the context of the female audience. A great deal has already been said on guys and their attitude to streetwear, so I thought it would be interesting to shoot a streetwear project on girls as this would show the scene from the female perspective.

I decided to look for a female model on a Facebook website, called Wavey Garms. This is a retail company which sells items of clothing with their logo on it. They also discuss fashion and promote fashion photography. Everyone who is part of this group has a unique way of dressing, which is often described as alternative streetwear. This style is very much focused on labels and finding good ‘steals’.

I found my model, Maddie, by talking to people in the Wavey Garms group and eventually messaging her directly on Depop. I’d like to photograph Maddie in her own clothing as this will help capture her unique style and personality.

I decided to photograph her in an arcade as she usually wears very bright and vibrant clothes which should blend in well with the vending machines and bright colours found in arcades. I also thought this location would make the shoot feel even more urban.

I was very happy with my shoot with Maddie in the arcade. However, I should have taken a flash light with me as I had to spend a lot of my time on post-processing, lightening my photos in Lightroom as the originals were rather dark.

I can imagine my images being published in the i-D magazine, so I’ll be using their double spreads for reference. i-D includes a lot of streetwear fashion and alternative styles, so my photo-series with Maddie is a perfect match for this magazine's audience.

When planning this shoot and deciding on my styling choices, I looked at the following photographers for inspiration: Vicky Grout, Terry Richardson, Ciesay of Places+Faces, and many Instagram accounts.

4) For my fourth double spread, I decided to continue my interest with branding and the question of why people are drawn to brands and fashion labels. To carry out this project, I bought a set of temporary transfer tattoos to put them on my model’s face and body. These tattoos featured the logos of some well-known fashion brands. These logos were all black, and I hoped that this would help create a strong contrast with the pale skin of my model and the white backdrop in the studio. I anticipated that I might convert my photos to black-and-white images to emphasize the contrast. Also, I opted for using natural light in the studio. However, after doing my 24-hour shoot in London for PEP 140, I was so happy with my London photographs that I decided to use them for this brief instead of my fashion-labels photos.

For the London shoot, I photographed a friend of mine, Devante. I thought that this would be a refreshing change as I usually photograph young women, and therefore I wanted to expand my portfolio.

I decided to shoot at Rowley Way in London as I really like the architecture and the abstract shapes these buildings convey to the viewer. It was very sunny on the day of my Rowley-House shoot, and I really like the way the shadows came out in the final shots.

However, I must admit it was hard to shoot in the bright sunlight, but I regularly checked both my camera settings and the photos I took to make sure that they were not too over-exposed.

After editing my pictures, I could really see them being published in the HYPEBEAST magazine as Devante is a very gifted stylist himself and he styled his looks really well with various different brands, shapes and colours. In fact, he has developed his own brand, called Envism

https://www.instagram.com/envism/

and, since HYPEBEAST likes to promote new upcoming designers, this magazine is a perfect match for my photo-series. I thought it would be a shame not to do more with my London images so I decided to use them for my 4th double-spread and my fashion-labels photos for my 24-hour shoot.

For inspiration for this shoot, I looked at Tyrone Lebone, Oliver Hadlee Pearch, Diane Abapo, Fucking Young! Magazine and Mike Key.

When selecting my final images for the layout, I chose photos featuring different outfits and colours. Also, I selected two portraits and one landscape image to make the series more engaging and varied. I particularly like the abstract geometric patterns found in the background architecture as they amplify the modern-urban aesthetics of my images without distracting the viewer from the principal content.    

One thing I could have done better is to interview with Devante about his new brand Envism to provide more context for my photos. However, I intend to do it next time I work with him.