Reflection: Day of shoot.

The appropriation of the Beatles style went well for us, we thought through the styling process by taking inspiration from the Beatles album covers and iconic images and mixing it with new trends. We applied this to the androgynous fashion that we studied and our styling on the day of the photo shoot went well as we had applied the formal wear style with the female form and it was really striking.
The photo shoot started off quite a slow process, the make up and hair and first outfits took a while to produce as we wanted the best quality of styling that the resources we had offered. It was really really windy in Liverpool by the docks, the models we used were really good and toughed it out with us in the cold and we managed to get some amazing shots, however most were affected by the wind so we couldn't use them. When the wind got un-manageable we decided to look for somewhere more sheltered, and we couldn't think of a better place to stick with out Beatles theme than Matthew Street. So we headed of down there. The models got a quick change at Weatherspoon's and off we went!
We created a couple more outfits, still using the formal wear styling such as bow ties and black ties, but we kept the figure hugging clothes in to as to create this androgynous effect. Make up got a re-boost and hair got sleeked back. We started shooting at the Cavern pub, we really got into character as a group, in a male perspective and we tried to imitate the body language of men that we saw out to give us inspiration so that we could direct are models clearly and effectively. This did included being rather masculine and really appropriating the male behaviour aspects.
We stayed in Matthew Street, adding a few styling tweaks as we went further on down the street, we really liked the dirty bits of the street, we thought it looked good as a background to our clean cut styling.
Finally we rounded the day up by visiting the official Cavern Club were the Beatles were once famed, and we cheekily asked wether we could do a few shots in there and to our luck the manager said yes!
It really closed our shoot and we got some really successful images that depicted the Beatles fashion appropriation and the androgynous style which was what we wanted to achieve!
And we got some cheeky drinks in, when in Rome :P

T x

Final Images

Favourite Images

These are some of our favourite images from the shoot in Liverpool. The we used an androgynous style, consisting of trousers, shirts, ties and dickie bows however, we put a modern twist to it and used shaped clothing to show off a feminie figure. For the make-up we used the idea of big eyebrows and created this look using mascara, we also kept the skin really matte buy using foundation and translucent powders. The hair was sleek and tied back in some of the photos, however towards the end of the shoot and a long day in the wind we preferred the ones with loose tousled hair. I really like the location as it set the tone for the images, also, the fact we shot in Liverpool relates to our iconic image of The Beatles. We started buy shooting at Albert Dock and then moved on to Mathew St, famously known for The Cavern club, we then was able to arrange to take some shots inside the club which looked very cultured and rustic. This gave a real atmosphere to the images and a sense of history.

Ax

Helmut Newton.

   

   

Helmut Newton is a fashion photographer that focuses on provocative and eroctic scenes which empower and liberate women. He often photographed in black and white and his work has been featured in French Vogue and other publications. His images often portray an androgynous style, whether it is he styling or the masculine poses and props. I love the extent in which he goes to portray strenght and empowerment and I really like the harsh contrast of the images. 

Ax 

Love

A publication which would suitably work well with our images is 'Love' magazine. A quirky, alternative fashion magazine. The magazine hasn't been around for very long so it is extremely contemporary and communicates with its audience in extravagent and fresh ways. Even though the majority of Love images are taken in the studio i think the style of image is similar to the direction we have travelled in. The poses in these oarticular example i have found are masculine and contraversial. The editing is also similar to ours in that it is very low saturated and sharp.

Hayley x

Androgynous make-up

I started to research beauty trends for our photo shoot in Liverpool. I began to notice that Androgynous style editorials and icons had a very simple make-up style. They all had large, dark eyebrows and very matted looking skin. Some kept the face plain and simple with no other make-up, but I found the ones which used red lips or smokey eyes made the face look more feminine and sexy.

I also found a make-up tutorial on the Topshop website which had a similar style. It used mascara on the eyebrows to make them look really thick and manly, I thought we could try this when doing the photo shoot in Liverpool. I really like the smokey eyes as I think it adds a really sexy edge.

Ax

Sleek Hair

A Stereotypical male would have short and sleek hair. The images below show how a hairstyle could make   a ladies face seem more masculine.

The hair has been scraped straight back leaving no strand out of place and has a shinny and tight look.

Looking at the make up, it is very natural and plain. 

Taking away heavy eye make up on some of the images create more of a man feel

*Vicki