A Hell of a Lot of Backcombing and Pink Hairspray

Yesterday I created my troll doll inspired photo shoot! And I have to say it was the funnest shoot by far. I had a very clear vision in my head of how I wanted my model to look, and that was, exactly like a troll doll, therefore a lot of backcombing and hair spraying was in order! I started by doing my models make up. I wanted to give her a doll like appearance with a slight twist, so I did her base make-up as normal but drew on little corner eyelashes to give her that almost 'cartoon' look. On her lips I used a pale orange lipstick from Topshop, as I wanted a colour that contrasted well with her hair colour, which I planned to make pink! 

When finishing her make-up I moved on to the most exciting part... the hair! So when doing my models hair I pretty much sacrificed our friendship as using the term 'backcombing' probably isn't strong enough. I 'backcombed' all of my poor models hair, and pinned random sections to give it that extra lift, when I was happy with the height and volume I hair sprayed it (like glue) and then I started to spray it baby pink! Although my model didn't look best pleased, I was having a great time! I then styled my 

 model in powder blue vans, shiny blue disco pants and my troll doll inspired crop-top. Then to finish off the look I added an oversized pink bow to her hair, in order to give it that extra 'cute' troll doll feel. For the shoot its self I picked a couple of walls outside my college that had been painted in a way to look like graffiti. I felt this to be the perfect setting for my shoot as it was child like and fun, and super 90s! I also liked the mixture of colours used, making it appear even more tacky and garish! I got my model to pose in a number of different poses and positions. I asked her to make herself look ridged and 'doll like' to ensure I capture the true troll persona. I also made sure she look slightly clueless and dumbstruck as I also felt this fitted the brief. Looking back on  my images I am very pleased with the results, as they a pretty much how I imagined them to look. Now its just going to take a lot of being extra nice to my model and a hell of a lot of brushing, wish me luck!

A Dozen Neon Trolls

Okay, so this was going to be my stupidest, most outlandish crop-top yet! 

The idea of sewing 90s troll dolls to a T-shirt would send most people into some sort of fashion coma, however I became very excited by the idea. Early last week I ordered 12 troll dolls off of amazon with the vision of using them to create my 3rd 90s inspired crop-top. To make the top, i cut of a section of the bottom (as done so with the other two) to make it into a crop. I then dyed the spare bit of fabric apple green, and started pinned it around the neck of my top to create a ruffled collar. I wanted to make this top as dramatic and fitting to the theme as possible. I then pinned my troll dolls in and around the pleats and ruffles of the collar, making it look bolder and very 'in your face' 90s. 

Once happy with my layout I started to sew my collar piece onto my top. Now all I had to do was find my very own life sized troll doll to model it for me! 

So Super Cringey

Earlier on in the week, I completed a shoot based on rock legends Nirvana (see previous post), and I thought it only fair that now it was The Spice Girls turn! Using the crop-top I had made and a very good friend, willing enough to make me make her look about 12, I created a super cringey Spice Girls photo shoot!

I wanted to create a realistic 'tacky' looking 90s shoot, using a plain white back drop, cheesy poses and classic 90s pop princess hair and make-up! I styled my model in plain black leggings and my own Spice Girls crop-top. 

The inspiration for my shoot was from my number one Spice Girl, Baby Spice! I wanted my model to display a certain girly innocence, a trait that seemed to be popular within the 90s with the rise of other big 'pop princesses' such as Brittany and Kylie. It was so interesting doing this shoot compared to the last one, which had a much darker feel. I felt with the Spice Girls shoot, everything was far more staged as I guess it was how someone would expect a typical 'photo shoot' to go. Where as the Nirvana shoot felt so much more natural and serious, I found these differences to be clear in the artists music too. After completing this shoot I felt it important to look at more comparisons from the 90s, looking at both the staged, silly side and the dark and somewhat serious side...

Look as if you couldn't give a...

On Tuesday I went to a friends house to shoot my grunge inspired photo shoot. I waited till about 7pm so the lighting was just right, still light but getting dark. I then styled my model in black wet look leggins, doc martins and my Nirvana crop-top. I used a black pencil eyeliner to create a smudgy dark effect on my models eyes, a deep purply lip tint and back combed my models hair slightly to give it that scruffy unkept look. I wanted to create a realistic grunge atmosphere so I used the back drop of a brick wall and an old motor bike that was just laying unused at my friends house. I felt this gave the images a certain sense of street style and made them look a lot more natural. It also fitted in well with Nirvana's classic rock image. I asked my model to look as moody and grumpy as possible, which wasn't hard as it was freezing outside, to complete the 'no hope' grunge attitude.

I was really happy with how a few of my images turned out, however it was such a challenge making them look convincing and not too staged but at the same time like a fashion shoot and not like documentary photography. Although the images looked great in black and white I also felt it important to capture the full appearance of my crop-top, hence a few close up of the embellished lyrics.

And I Swear That I Don't Have A Gun

I have decided its time to stop blinkering myself with neon colours, cringey girl bands and fanatical 90s fun. I have decided its time to look into the darker side to the 90s. I feel since doing my project I have only been focused on the typical '90s' style that is tacky, bright and OTT and it was about time I looked into something more laid back, effortless and a style that was just as important; Grunge! Grunge has always been a style that has fascinated me, the idea of putting effort in to look scruffy and almost bad is something I find extremely weird and wonderful. When looking into grunge in the 90s, with no surprise , grunge legends Nirvana made quite a few appearances. After becoming slightly obsessed again with Nirvana I decided I had to make a crop top inspired by them to contrast my super tacky Spice Girls one!

  Using the two iconic Nirvana colours, black and yellow, and tie-dyed the tee to give it that second hand, scruffy, laid back appearance. I then waited for it to dry, and luckily the colours came out a lot darker and dingier than I thought, giving it a realistic grungey feel. However I felt more needed to be added to make it unique and totally Nirvana. With thoughts of ripping it or studded it I finally came up with the idea to sew Nirvana lyrics into it!

Having the reference to the band I felt made it so much more realistic, also the way in which the writing was scruffy and hard to make out also made a connection back to the style of grunge its self. Now to pick my grungiest friend for the photo shoot... 

SPICE UP YA' LIFE

So in one of my earlier posts I mentioned creating my own range of 90s inspired crop-tops, all expressing different themes from the 90s. After getting loads of great feedback from my questionnaires it was super clear that there was one very big recurring theme... The Spice Girls. And to be honest I don't think I can think of anything quite as 90s? So after a little bit of research into the band (although embarrassingly I already knew quite a lot) I got together some basic ideas for my top.

I wanted my top to have different elements on it to represent each member from the band, starting with sporty, which I felt was covered in the sporty 'crop' top style. I then dyed my top pink in honour of baby, embellished the neckline with pearls for posh and used leopard print fabric and union jack print fabric to make a scary and ginger inspired sleeve! Now all I have to do is find a willing Spice Girls fan to model it for me. Hmmm...

Under-exposure

Okay so mastermind number two! Cathy Kasterine! Worked first as a fashion assistant for British Vogue and then became a freelance stylist in the early 90s and has worked mainly for famous fashion mag i-D! When looking into fashion stylists from the 90s, as you can imagine, loads caught my eye, but one shoot in particular, from Cathy, stood out. In June 1993 Vogue published a shoot with Kate Moss, under the ultra intriguing name, 'Under-exposure'. As soon as I saw the images I understood why they had named the shoot what they had. A beautiful, fresh faced Kate stood venerably in tiny Hennes (now H&M) laced knickers. Her face portrayed innocence and sadness as she wraps herself in a pastel lilac duvet against a exposing white background. Corinne Day, who shot the images, later reviled that Kate had been crying earlier that morning after a split with her boyfriend, giving the images an even more intense feeling. To me this shoot was perfect, not only did Kate make the underwear look beautiful but it told
a story also, allowing a connection between the viewer and the images. It was also really lovely to see a softer and less harsh view of the 90s with pastel shades, simple clothing, and stripped back photography.




















When looking deeper into this shoot, I found it to be very well known within the fashion industry and apparently is was an extremely controversial in the 90s. The fact Kate was known for being a stick thin heroine chic, who was not afraid to let lose and party and was then made to look baby faced and innocent, I guess was slightly ironic? However no one could deny the simplistic beauty of the images, clearly displaying early 90s fashion creeping into everyday, mainstream fashion, pure genius.