Fashion: Model Characterisation & Styling Inspiration

For our shoot we are planning on having a dominant female character from the East & although we have decided on our model who is Asian Peruvian we have started to research the sort of scenes & characterisation we hope to portray in our final image. 
The female character will be dominant and confident as well as being a sexual protagonist, from this I researched and found a few different references we could use on the day of the shoot to lead and mould our model's personality & posture. The fashion shoots will also help us to direct our male model in the way that he will be composed in relationship to the female. 

The first shoot I came across was the 'Hitchcock Beauty' fashion shoot featuring the Asian model, Ming Xi. 

 

I really liked the use of key lighting on the main character as well as colour to make the female character the most dominant figure in the images; props are used subtley in all of the images too to highlight the 1950s/60s time period such as the telephone, film noir blinds & fashion. However there is still a hint of a modern twist to make it fashion forward which I hope we will be able to create in our final fashion shoot images. 
 
The photo shoot 'China Girl' by Sebastian Faena is a very good example as reference for our shoot due to the very bold, dominant and assertive female character in the images which seem to portray a sensual, voyeuristic editorial. The model, Bonnie Chen gives off elegance and seduction in a modernised way, despite modelling with a cast of men her characterisation seems strongest and most dominant.

 

 

These images are very sexually charged and while the female is leared on by the male figures in the scenes she owns them by the way she holds herself and stands amongst them in the scenes.
I continued to search for fashion shoots that contained this sort of characterisation in Asian female models and came across a few different editorials.

In this editorial photographed by Vinvent Peters for Love Story featuring Du Juan & Edwin Kadarisman in Numero China August 2011, the female character is very obviously dominant despite the way in some of the images she has been obscured by the male model. While in others she is smaller than the male model but due to the depth of field she has become the main focus which is the sort of effect that we plan to create in our scene. 

I also came across this very stylised fashion shoot by Greg Kadel for Tuxedo Glamour editorial featuring Sui He & Xiao Wen. Again despite all of the models sharing equal rolls in the images due to the use of colour the female character stand out more prominantly; I laso like the way that the women are blurred in most but this movement creates and eye-catching effect.

 Finally due to our more recent ideas of having the male character as an unsuspecting character such as the hotel manager or bellboy I really liked this catwalk where the female models were accompanied by their own personally chaffeur. The use of costume as well as height and posture creates this feeling of dominance in this image which I think we should consider more when looking at costume for both models.

I continued to research the use of the colour red to create danger and dominance in the frame through both the main colour of the clothing the female model will wear as well as the accessories.

 In these different shoots and editorials they highlight the different ways that colour can be used to highlight the main subject of our image. The fashions are also interesting to look at, I really like the use of red fur, bags and shoes and small details to pick out rather than an actual red dress.

 This idea can also be seen in these images of a Ralph Lauren editorial featuring Asian characters, I also like the use of oriental patterns which we could feature to exaggerate this conflict between East and West.

 This editorial for the Valentino Spring Summer 2012 campiagn features mainly very neutral colours combined with bold highlights of red to exaggerate the importance of certain characters in the scenes. I think this relates well to our shoot as our room and the male model will be very neutral colours eg. browns and creams while the female model will probably wear clothes with bold colours & prints inspired further by this research.

I also looked again at different 1960s fashions & simply colours or patterns that I think would work well in our shoot combined with Asian models to help us decide what would suit our model.

 I really like this shoot based in the 1960s, firstly the decor is really interesting, particularly the last one which I think has the same feel of that which we wish to create. I am also intrigued by the fashion combined with the 60s bouffant/beehive hair styles and bright red eye shadow.

 These other catwalks and editorials feature different colours, patterns and textures but I feel they all give off not necessarily a 60s look but definitely an oriental feel which I really think we must feature in our shoot. I will use this research on fashion to further develop our fashion ideas and continue to work with the stylists when styling hair and make-up.


Due to the fact that we are definitely using an Asian model I have only been focussing on Asian female models in the fashion shoots & catwalks I have been researching as well as only European males where they have been featured.