Fashion research

There would not be Fashion, without the figure, in fashion however I have discovered there are ways of manipulating the figure to be more pleasing to the eye. These examples below are shown through cutting the shape of the dress in a certain way or optical illusion. Creating the illusion that someone is slimmer then they actually are by using light and dark tones. 

As shown below the Stella McCartney dress which is cut in a certain way to give the perfect hour glass figure with a darker colour and then a use a skin colour in between. 

Here however she has done a similar thing with cut making different shapes which compliment the female form. However in the transparent parts she has added dark dots which brings a different dimensions to the outfit. It reminds me a bit of the image I used earlier of the model on the sofa in the nude the light was hitting her figure in dot like shapes.

Optical illusion dress by Alexander McQueen the pattern on the dress reminded me of the artist I saw in St Ives Bridget Riley. The dress creates a contour effect around the figure but is darker at the edges and slowly gets lighter to create the illusion of a slimmer frame. 

Some examples of Bridget Riley's work even looking at it slightly makes me feel dizzy. She is using line to manipulate the viewers perception of the piece. She has even looked at the female figure herself as seen below she has created the figure through weaving lines into one another. It is simple but very effect possibly something I could use in my sample process or even with drawing.

This season there is a monochrome theme in some designers collections which use line to contour the body in different ways. The examples I am showing are Marc Jacob and Victoria Beckham.

Marc Jacob

Victoria Beckham

Artist research

To get an even better understanding of the figure I went to visit Leonardo Di vinci exhibition 'Anatomical drawings' where Di vinci studies how the body works internally by cutting into bodies to study how certain thinks worked and how things effected one another. He was well ahead of anyone in his era with the understand of the body. However what stood out to me in the exhibition was how precise and beautifully done his drawings were. I am quite squeamish when it comes to the body and dissecting them. However he drew with a quill and ink and make the drawings have a romantic soft feel to them. What was also fascinating about him is he wrote in mirror hand because he was left handed. So he basically wrote everything backwards making even the writing on the pages look delicate and beautiful. 

Photography research

From the drawings and photos I had done, made me want to start looking at other artist work that I could work from and get different ideas of drawing the figure. 

A photographer that stood out whos images I though were beautiful is Sally Mann, I bought her book still time which has a combination of different topics but I focused at looking at the figure images. 

What I feel is so amazing about her work is she does not just do the figure in a form way she compliments it with something different. In the first image she has used a wet piece of silk or some sort of material to add a romantic tone to the picture which could be seen as vulgar. In the second image there is this sense of mystery not knowing why the arm is clasping the wall and how the fan like sleeve makes the hand look even more delicate. In the last image which is one of my favourite it is a child's figure with a flower of some kind acting as a large necklace. The white of the flower contrasts so well with the darkness of the skin. I feel all of these images are so simple yet enticing for the viewer. 

Another Photographer I found with researching Miroslow Tichy. His work has a vintage feel to it as if the images are very old and not quite in focus. What I find amazing about him is he makes his own cameras that is why his images have such an intriguing affect. Here are some examples below.

Here is a picture of one of his home made cameras, this could be a possible area I could go into, making my own camera to create intriguing affects.

Female Figure drawing

I feel I have spent so much time examining the male figure I wanted to look into the female figure. This made me go back to the pirelli Calendar where the photographer Mario Sorrenti take picture of the female models in their purest form no make up no clothes just a simple black and white image in the nude and having the light hit their bodies in an intriguing way. This is a drawing I did based on one of the images in the calendar. 

http://www.fashionologie.com/2012-Pirelli-Calendar-Mario-Sorrenti-Pictures-20749310

Above is a short video of Mario shotting the models and below that is a link to the final images for the calendar

Drawings of Male images

I also did some drawing of the male models figure to get some primary research. I did some blind drawing, just focusing on certain limbs for a short amount of time and then a long drawing to really look at the light and shadow on the figure. It was really good to practise drawing again as well I felt last year I didn't do as much drawing as I would have liked to. 

This is the drawing just focusing on body parts, examples shown below

I then went on to doing a more indepth drawing of the male figure

which I feel also shows how my drawing has progressed with in just a few days. I am very pleased with the out come of this drawing. Often I prefer shorter drawing because I can be quite impatient and feel if I spend more time on a drawing there is more ways of ruining it. 

Male figure- black and white photos

I wanted to start off just looking at certain body parts of the figure and how the light and shadow makes it look more 3 dimensional. I took some photos of a male model and did close ups of certain areas of the figure. 

Summer Project

Doing a summer project is quite daunting having no guidance from the teachers and being able to do anything you want. However, it gives you a real chance to see what gives you inspiration in the big wide world. 

I started looking at everyday thing. Something that would catch my eye or intrigue me. I started to look at peoples shoes and how someones shoes can often reflect their personality but sometimes end up surprising you into thinking something completely different. I was acting like a slight stalker taking photos of peoples shoes while they were unaware the best places were trains or the tube. However as i started with this topic shoes, i didn't feel it was going anywhere that i really like and something i wanted to start my second year with. 

I decided that I wanted to change my direction and do something that was broad and could be developed easily, what really stuck out for me was then landing in the UK coming from France at night seeing all the towns lit up making intriguing shapes really fascinated me. 

This made me think further into looking at light and how it affect many things. From a city to any object an its perception to the viewer. However light by itself it very broad, I felt I needed a real subject matter that I would be interested in and could develop into a project that I would enjoy to see grow as the year went on. As luck would have it I was flicking through a french magazine when I paused at this mesmerising image from the pirelli calendar 2012 done by the photographer Mario Sorrenti. It is a simple black and white image of a model positioned gracefully on a coach like sofa in the middle of the forest with the light shining on her body through the trees creating circular shapes of light on her body.

This was what I was going to look at in my project how the light and dark can affect the female/male figure in many different ways, from photography to fashion to cinematography to textiles to anything really.