Hi Guys,
Hope you are having an amazing day.
If you are reading this, I am assuming that you have been through my earlier blogs. But for the lazy ones who are interested in art and fashion but not a reader, I’d like to summarise the series of blogs that I have been working on!
As the name suggest: The Modern Baroque, I am here working on a college assignment where we had to shoot a fashionable still life inspired from a work of art from or an Art movement that happened in the earlier times blending it with modern touch of trend but also making it relatable with a brand and an artist.
The process goes this way:
1. I had to choose an Art Movement from before.
2. I had to a select an SS’19 Mega trend that would blend well with my Art inspired shoot.
3. Had to dig deeper in the trend and come up with another awesome trend that would compliment my shoot.
4. I had to select an artist who has also worked on the same art movement as myself and try understanding his ideology and why did they find the art movement as interesting as I did.
5. I had to select an object that is the centre of my shoot but the object should also be a fashionable item that is from a brand that too relates with by Art movement. The product that I choose should fill all the spaces required in my still life shot.
The process started with me selecting Vanitas– a European Art movement from the 17th century to work on. It’s a busy still life painted on a canvas with saturated and intense colours. The ideology that makes Vanitas different is that it has objects that depicts both life and death. The people from the 17th century in Neatherland had just gotten wealthy when the trade flourished. This is what gave rise to the art movement which shows off the luxuries they owned. Also since they were catholic, they strongly believed in religious arguments of Life and death and resurrection. And thus they had added objects like skulls and melting candles to show death being inevitable for humans. PRONK a division of Vanitas that consists luxuries like exotic food, possessions like pearls and silver along with burning candles and rotten fruits that resonates that death is the end of all. A few famous artist from the vanitas era are as follows: David Bailly, Evert Collier and Harmen Steenwijck. They painted using rich pigmented colours with proper display of light falling on the object. The paintings were highly detailed and so they are an important part of the art history.
I was certain that I’ll be shooting a Vanitas inspired still life after understanding the whole culture. But I had to think of a mega trend that would turn the still life fashionable. Thus, I researched a little and came across Common Ground: An SS’19 Mega trend which is also about intensified warm colours that blend well with the frame. I decided to place objects that add warm colour tone to my still life justifying the Common groumd trend. Common Ground is identified as a trend which is sustainable since it is inspired from colours of the nature like the sea and the sand. It has warm tones like shades of ochre yellow and dark lilac that are always used in gradient paterns to blend with other objects in the graments and in this case- in my frame.
Though Common groud is a wider trend, I had to narrow my trend and focous sharply on something from the SS’19 selecting something from the Common Ground theme itself. And so, a tread that I felt would work well for me was the Classic Bow trend from SS’19. For some people a bow might just be an embellishment to an outfit but for me, a bow is somehow synonymous with pride. Not anyone and everyone would carry a bow well. It’s a symbol of sumptuousness for men who wear a bow tie for Gala events or High society women how wear it to benefits and events. And thus it would fit perfectly as a luxury item in my still life shot! It’s also very nostalgic for me since as a child, I’ve always been very attracted to cute bows stuck on hairbands. I also use to wear my elder brother’s bow tie from his suits around my neck because it adds an elderly vibe to someone’s personality. I had to now decided where and how do I place my bow. Since it had to be added to a product from a brand that I could associate with my Art Movement. I’m glad that I found the perfect match for the same.
Now I had to choose a brand, which is also somewhere inspired by the same art movement I’m working now. I didn’t really had to think hard. Being a fashion student I know the importance of keeping oneself updated with all the brilliant fashion campaign and collections that designers come up with. Researched a little and I came across my all time favourite luxury shoe Brand- Christian Louboutin. Christian Louboutin is the master shoe designer of all times, who has the most intriguing designs in shoes with the patent hot red sole that instantly turns every footwear glamorous. For a matter of fact, we Indians are also aware about his talent, as Mr. Louboutin had recently collaborated with famous Indian designer SabhyaSachi in 2017 which clearly shows his interest in culture and ideologies. The brand has shot their AW 08/09 collection in a Vanitas still life inspired set up. The pictures from the campaign ad consisted of heels from Aw 08/09 collection standing tall with items like exotic fruits on one side, while they have melting candles on the other.It clearly depicted life and death together in one frame which is what Vanitas is all about. The pictures from the campaign were amazing and thus my product to work on was clear! A shoe!
After having all my ingredients of still life, I now had to bring all of these together in one shot.
Here is what I finally came up with!
My frame consist of flowers in saturated shades along with pearls that all show luxury. My heels inspired by Louboutin and the classic bow are all part of the Vanity I tried depicting. The dead lobster and a dead bird’s feather inside the glass bottle shows that death is inevitable just as Vanitas ideology and belief in life and death. Apart from it, the use of saturated orange colour on the leaf which dilutes to tangerine and goes up to a wooden tone case and the bottle of mixed grains in different hues all show common ground in my version of modern still life. And finally for the bow, I couldn’t find a better spot than the heels itself. The heels are nothing but a status symbol to me since for women, only the ones with high fashion sense wear high heels commonly. When you wear high heels, your posture gets better and you always walk with your head held up. And thus adding a bow to it made it even more majestic and grand. I decided to go with a classic black bow to pin on my heels instead of something blingy.
While I was shooting my still life, I constantly looked up to the still lives Audrey Flack painted in her time. The artist has a unique take on still lives that inspired me to add modern elements in my version. Audrey Flack is an American painter and sculptor who painted her modern version of Vanitas. She created displays which had pictures of Marilyn Monroe in it along with a watch. I translated the scene as the display of life and death considering Hollywood start Marylin as a symbol of glamour and luxury alone with a ticking watch that translates to the idea of death and the fact that nothing last forever. Audrey was also a feminist and at times has had strong writing scribbled in her still lives.
Lastly, throughout my entier assignment, my mind went back to one artist who not just now, but every since I came across her work and her life story, has never ceased to inspire me: FRIDA KAHLO. The famous Maxican self-portrait painted who has suffered a lot of tragedies in her lifetime also happens to be painting still lives that represents the same values as that of Vanitas! Frida has underwent major accident in her teenage and had passed year recovering from it. She used that time painting her journey. She also has a disturbed marriage and love life which are all depicted through her painting. It all shows what a strong woman she was. Apart from her world famous self portraits work, Frida Kahlo painted still lives aswell. These paintings consisted of skulls with flowers. Here again, the flowers were a depiction of life for Frida since she felt that she could keep the flower alive through her painting while the skull again is a sign of death. Her painting were deeper than that! Some of them even consisted human organs like heart that meant life in a frame.
In my frame I tried to cover everything from Vanita’s belief of life and death to the display for luxury items like Pronk art. Added modern touch with applying warm colour palette from mega trend Common Ground from SS’19. Converting my theme modern by being inspired by Audrey Flack and using another trend from Common Ground which is the Classic Bow which also personalises the frame for me since classic bows have been a part of my childhood. I took the idea of adding a personal touch to it fron Frida Kahlo! Finally the brand that beautiful blended with the frame and product that shouts luxury is Christian Louboutin for me with the red soled heels thag are gorgeous!
And that’s how I shot my final modert Vanitas still life!
Please go and read all the blogs from this series to understand each step and artist in detail.
Thank you soo much for going through my blog! Hope to see you soon.
Comment below for any doubts or if you have any questions regarding the topics covered.
Until next time!!
KAJAL SINGH
Fashion 