The Commission- Critical Appraisal

Critical Appraisal

My idea for 'The Commission' project is too focus on recycled fashion. I came up with this idea after I researched into statics of waste in Medway, they showed that Recycling in Medway is there biggest problem concerning waste. After researching into recycled clothing, I became interested in how recycling garments can help the environment in many ways as it helps with the problem of mass consumption in the fashion industry. I also became interested in how you can recycle fashion in more different ways then just buying from second hand clothing stores.

 First I looked into photographers/artists that deal with consumerism and consumption, to gain inspiration on how I could represent this in my work. Photographer Chris Jordan inspired me to use many different pieces of recycled clothing in my work as he uses scale and mass to show the amount of consumerism that happens around the world. Sylvie Fleury inspired me for my work as she explores the satisfaction people get from shopping for clothing, I like the way she makes her images appeal to a female audience by focusing on fashion and by making her objects seem desirable which is what I want to achieve in my images. 

Next I began looking into photographers that use second hand clothing in there work, I became interested in the idea of the clothes telling a story as they once belonged to someone else and how they have more meaning and story to them compared to clothes bought from a regular clothing store. Photographer Siri Kivisto inspired me with the way she layers clothing on the subject to show the relationship between an item of clothing that is no longer a treasured object. The photographers I looked at all archive pieces of clothing which appealed to me as it archives the importance of clothing and how we should look after them. Dann Treacy inspired me with the way he layers clothing that belongs to other people on a model in a different way to how they are usually worn. I was also interested in the idea that the piece of clothing was seen to be waste by someone as it was put into a charity shop and how I could make it appear more desirable photographers such as...,.................. inspired me. I decided to make my images into a fashion editorial to make the clothes look more fashionable and appealing. 

For my photoshoot I'm going to style a female model in second hand clothing that I have bought from charity shops in the Medway area. My idea is to layer different items of clothing to make a new garment, to represent how upcycling can also be used to recycle fashion. By layering recycled clothing on top of each other represents the mass consumption the fashion industry has because fashion is about the new trends which results in a lot consumerism and therefore waste. Having a model wear recycled clothing in a fashion photoshoot will raise awareness on how you can still be stylish by wearing second hand clothing. I'm going to present my images in a fashion editorial by layering my images on top of destroyed receipts for clothing, to again emphasise the amount of mass consumption there is in the fashion industry. By having the model in second hand clothing and still appearing fashionable can show how you don't need to continue buying new clothing. To show how fashion can be recycled in different ways I'm going to make a collage with my own images and with old fashion editorials from magazines, I was inspired by artists such as Arian Behzadi and Melinda Gibson who use collage in there work and layer different images on top of each other.

I wanted the clothing to be the main focal point of the photographs, to achieve this I used a plain background and layered numerous items of clothing on top of each other. I feel that the issue of recycled clothing is represented in the images I have created because of how I have dressed the model in second hand clothing. To add to the recycled theme I cut out images from old fashion magazines to recycle fashion in a different way, to make sure all the images work well together I made sure I cut them out in the same style. To improve my editorial I would make sure I kept a consistent style in all of the photographs as the lighting looks slightly different in all of the images. The most difficult challenge was printing, I found it hard to make all of the images have the same colour tones. I would place my work in a fashion magazine as I have made a fashion editorial that showcases second hand clothing.