Studio Mansol and CuldeSac

Below are some amazing images displaying a collaboration between the professional hairdressing academy Studio Mansol and Spanish designers CuldeSac. The images show how they have use plaited hair to create huge bonnets and unusual shawls. These images really inspire me to create really structural hair for my shoots, maybe on a slightly smaller scale!!! I think its really nice to see such a simple hairstyle such as the plait transformed into some amazing shapes and styles. To incorporate this more into the work that I am looking at I have added some images of the Surma and Mursi tribes in this post because when I have looked at these images side by side my imagination runs wild and I can really imagine a plaited hair design entwined with natural products to create something really beautiful. This is defiantly something I will go on to investigate.

Moodboard Development

After producing the first mood boards for this project I have undertaken considerably more research and have really cemented in my mind the route that I want to go down with each image. For this reason I have produced two more mood boards. This time I have included some of my own work as well as work that I have researched and of course images of original tribal make up.

Editorial Mood Board- This mood board, I hope, clearly suggests a very intricate and detailed design that is effective. I want to go down a very monochrome colour theme however I do want to incorporate a splash of colour. Having looked as scarification and tattooing I want to make sure that I get an element of each in one of my looks and I feel that the editorial shoot is the most appropriate one to do this in, as it would be appreciated close up much more. This design will be all about texture of the skin and I have chosen a monochrome theme as I don't want colour to take away from the detail.

Catwalk Mood Board- This mood board is the much more colourful of the two. It displays work that I have produced myself and it is much more free and easy, less detailed and less precise in the application of make up. Thinking about the way this make up will be displayed, on a model walking the catwalk, it is important to bear in mind that the colours and patterns need to stand out from a distance and this is the reason I chose to use colour as a main focus for this look.

My Models

I have opted for two models, one male and one female. I chose to use both sexes as I think it is interesting to work on different genders as the effects for the viewing audience can be very different.
Rachel, my female model is 20years old, I have never worked with her before however I have seen images of previous photo shoots that she has done and the results were really striking. Rachel's big blue eyes and strong cheek bones, along with her blonde hair is not what you would usually associate with a tribal theme, however, as this is very much a fashion based project I didn't feel it was necessary to looked for an ethnic model. My male model, Sam, who I have used on one previous occasion with good results. He has a very strong jaw line and a flawless complexion which makes a huge difference when it comes to applying make up. I'm excited to work with these models and am looking forward to sharing the final results with you.

"The Better Triumph" Zink Magazine Shoot

Zink Magazine shoot "The Better Triumph". Photographer- Denise Boomkens, Styling- Martine Reurings, Makeup/Hair- Yvonne Nusdorfer. Images from www.zinkmagazine.com

The images that I have taken from the Zink website to produce this post are absolutely beautiful. The bright range of colours and textures clash but seem to blend together in the shoot to produce lovely yet striking images that really ooze tribal in such a decadent way. Tribal and decedant are two words that you wouldn't often seem to see in the same sentence but that is why I believe these images have such a strong impact on the viewer because they bring these words together. Everything has been well thought out from accessories to hair and pulls the images together not only as stand alone image but also as a collection of images. Something that I picked up on, aside from the really strong use of colour, was the way that, although well applied, not every line is perfectly drawn or placed. I, however, can see that this is a strong reference to the very free and liberally applied make up we see in most tribes and most definable in the tribes I have chosen to focus upon more clearly, the Surma and Mursi tribes.

Manish Arora

Manish Arora is a fashion designer now designing for the Paco Rabanne fashion house. I am looking at his work because I can see a strong link to colour, design and pattern that I have come across in my previous research that links with my tribal theme. I am aware, however, that the main influence is Indian culture. What I am most interested in is the make up designs produced for his catwalk shows. The bright colours and interesting shapes that are created in such simple yet effective designs really captured my attention. When designing my own catwalk look these are vital aspects that I need to take on board. I need to be able to capture the attention of the audience, however, create a look that can still be seen and appreciated from a distance. My two favourite make up looks I have seen in Manish Arora's catwalk shows are, the S/S 12 Paris Fashion Week, as the look was dramatic with masks of colour covering the eyes and intricate stick on eyebrows. This Look was Produced by make-up artist Carole Lasnier. The second look that captured my attention was from the, London Fashion Week A/W 2007. The look was striking with bold pattern applied to the head. The colour theme was mainly monochrome however there was a splash of colour which was very effective.

Leaves in the hair

Looking at images of my chosen tribes, Surma and Mursi, it is obvious that I need to take inspiration for the hair to be very creative by attaching things into the hair such as flowers, leaves and twigs. I was thinking about how I could do this and using some plastic ivory leaves I decided that french plaits could be a good way entwining them into the hair. The images show how I have done this, however, I think that I need to incorporate what I have learned from creating structured hair and mix this with attaching decoration to create something much more visually exciting.  

Phyllis Cohen Experiments

After looking at the work of Phyllis Cohen I wanted to get creative and adapt her ideas to fit my theme. The images I have uploaded do not display a look for my final shoot but simply a very experimental session in the studio. There where things about the make up I applied that I like, for example the short black brush strokes over the majority of the face, because although its very simple from far away its is striking and effective. However, the black lines I applied were hard to get level and hard to achieve a sharp edge therefore less effective that I wanted. Looking ahead if I wanted to achieve these lines I would need to make a stencil.