Collaboration Project
For this project we had to generate an idea for a collaboration for someone or something orientated around fashion. Nowadays there are a lot of collaborations in the fashion industry, some innovative and some consumer driven. For this project I wanted to look into how a collaboration could do good for the world. But there are many different avenues and issues you could address.
Researching into collaborations which have already happened is a key element and will give a lot of inspiration. When doing my research a came across a book called 'Naked Fashion' written by Safia Minney, it discusses the sustainable fashion movement, a collaboration between; People Tree, Richard Nicholl, Bora Aksu and Topshop. People Tree is a fair trade brand where workers a paid a fair price and use organic materials. Richard Nicholl was a fashion designer who worked for Topshop and Jack Wills. To me this collaboration was a very positive step, especially in 2008, when fast fashion was growing rapidly. The fact a ethically conscious company and a consumer driven company could come together is great. Especially when Topshop's main customers was teens and young adults, who are very impressionable. Which is good when they're buying ethically thought of products, as they are more likely to make an ethical decision again after buying into the narrative once.
After looking at People Tree's work, I was inspired to do a collaboration between a charity and fashion brand/retailer. My focus is mental health awareness in younger people. As I believe if teens and young adults learn about these issues now, they should carry those ethics for the rest of their lives, which in turn makes a positive impact on the world. Specifically researching into fashion brands who have worked with mental health charities in the past would give me a much better understanding of how brands communicate this narrative. Also what their doing to specifically target a younger audience.
https://www.vogue.com/article/brands-supporting-mental-health-awareness
After looking at various collaborations which have mental health awareness as their objective. It shocked me how many larger companies don't seem to be doing anything for mental health. I particularly liked Mr Porters campaign, they offered high end, up and coming outdoor clothing at discounted prices. With some lines exclusive at Mr Porter, this lasted for the entire month of October. This in my opinion was innovative as it is trying to push people into doing activities in the outdoors. I feel when people buy clothes, they buy into a narrative, therefore when consumers buy outdoor clothing, they're more likely to go spend time in the outdoors.
Especially now with the trend of outerwear increasing popularity with Instagram pages such as; 114 Index, L.Holl and many others, Mr Porters campaign is very effective because of this. The trend of outerwear is popular amongst younger people in general, which is also very positive as these customers will likely carry the narrative of spending their time outdoors for the rest of their life. This is great as the more time spent outdoors, people become more environmentally conscious and at the same time improve their own mental health.
(https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/mr-porter-launches-go-out-capsule-coincides-with-mental-health-awareness-campaign/2021101258336)
Experimenting sales display poster ideas.
For this collaboration I thought Size could have a limited time where all Hoodie sales are donated to YoungMinds. This would raise mental health awareness as consumers may discuss with their friends after seeing the promotional material, but then have a deeper conversation as they discuss the reason for the promotional display.
After making a few mock-ups and having some feedback. Researching into the deeper meaning of clothing as armour, and how it has been used historically gives me more knowledge and a new perspective of how the collaboration could be portrayed. In the photographs I believe the hoodie needs to look more like armour, making the hoodie bigger around the model could work. Also the model should be more in focus rather than a silhouette as I think showing the details in the hoodie would be more effective. For instance the hood could be up with the chords pulled tightly to show the model taking shelter in their hoodie, inferring they have anxiety. Or focusing on the model putting their hands in the front pocket because they're not sure where to put their hands in social situations.
I also need to research into how 'Size?' lay out their stores and what forms of media they use to promote their brand. This will help me distinguish how the project will be presented either within the stores or online. Also looking at which artists and designers 'Size?' have worked with in the past and present would be good. As it would give me a better understanding to how the brand portrays different messages through different artists and platforms.
Pictures from 'Size?' AW21 lookbook
Size? supports
Researching into what 'Size?' currently do when working with charities was very informative and made me much more confident with my concept. On their website they have a blog section named' Size? supports' which focuses on what they're doing to be an ethical company. Doing a lot with many different charities around the UK. Mental health seems to be a big focus of theirs, hosting many events with local artists and organisations to raise funds and awareness for mental health charities such as Mind Manchester. Within their 'supports' section they have various blogs offering guidance how to deal with mental health. I discovered a blog series where they interview 'Size? experts' in three different cities;Manchester, Newcastle and Cardiff and ask them where and what they do to clear their head. This blog is very effective as it offers various solutions for people to improve their mental health, and normalises talking about it.
Size? Store Visit
Visiting a 'SIZE?' store gave me a much better idea of how the video could be displayed in a physical space. I went and gave their Carnaby Street store a visit, this proved to me their demographic was younger people as most of the customers in the store were under the age of 30. Also the way the store is laid out, would work perfectly for my promotional strategy as all of the hoodie clothing items were downstairs. Above the stair there's a notice board which lists all the brands available with two screen's to show promotional material.
Irving Penn Portraits
This photo book by Irving Penn gave me a lot of inspiration as to the style of the imagery for this collaboration. Within the book all the photographs are black and white, which makes someone focus on the portraits more, and in the style Penn works it communicates a lot of emotion through these photographs. Which is what I want to do through the imagery of this collaboration, as expressing your emotion is an important aspect to mental health. Particularly the image of Issey Miyake from 1988 with his hood up struck me as one side of his face is shadowed. Conveying; shy, anxious, hiding imagery I thought would be very effective as an aspect within my project. Highlighting the feeling of being anxious is very easily to empathise with as everyone feels anxious everyday in some way or another in my opinion.
Black and White in Practise
Inspired by Irving Penn's photo-book, I wanted to practise black and white photography. This would allow me improve this skill specifically, in order to portray a message visually through people or forms.
The idea behind the scenes is what people do to fight feeling anxiety when wearing a hoodie, this was inspired by a blog I found on the thrift collaborating with Barnado's. The blog was titled 'Your Clothes, Your Armour'. In the blog it discusses how clothing can give people confidence, and how it makes them feel safer in social situations.
(https://the-thrift.co.uk/2018/01/16/your-clothes-your-armour/)
Making the video
For the video I wanted to incorporate socially-awkward body language to convey the feeling of anxiety. Inspired by Issey Miyake's portrait by Irving Penn. I wanted the model wearing his/her hood up as to me it's as if their hiding from the outside world. After visiting the Size? store. Seeing the two screens mounted on the wall above the stairs could be very useful to play a video which people watch before entering the clothing section downstairs.
Highlighting the hoodie within an image.
Gathering clips
This was the first draft of the video. Overall I was happy, but it still needed sound, also the words which pop up don't seem to flow very well.
Within this video it shows how the project would be displayed within the Size? store whilst entering the downstairs to the clothing section. This makes the idea far more tangible. It then cuts into the actual promotional video which I thought works rather well. The music in the background is a clip from a song called 'Fear', by band Current Joys. The song is about not feeling fear when being younger, and becoming more fearful of everything when growing up. Which to me is very fitting music for this collaboration as the song is being emotionally honest, which is what the video is about.