Steven Meisel
Oil and Water – Vogue Italia – Aug 2010

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http://fashiongonerogue.com/kristen-mcmenamy-vogue-italia-august-2010-steven-meisel/#more-34688

This shoot by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia caused a bit of a stir, the theme for the shoot was the BP oil spill and some thought that it was tasteless and inappropriate. However controversial the shoot may be its a great example of narrative in fashion imagery. There is no mistaking the message behind this image, the devastation and suffering of nature caused by humans. We are instantly reminded of images of birds covered in oil, and thats because the visual language of these images is very clear.
The landscape is harsh, the rocks are jagged and the water is dark with oil. The model is wearing garments adorned with nets, feathers and made from shiny material, all pointing to the BP oil spill. The model is even covered in oil, and at one point coughing up water as if she is drowning, this type of modeling requires a performance, a commitment to the action. The colour palette is made up of blues and browns like the oil itself, its muddy, gritty and dirty.

Nick Knight
Dynamic Blooms – Another Magazine – Issue 20

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This shoot by Nick Knight has a theme rather than a narrative. For me, the themes are movement, energy and distortion. The extreme movements of the model showcases the lightweight qualities of the clothing and creates soft, billowing extensions of the body. These natural, organic lines are then chopped up, and other shots pasted over them creating harsh joins that no longer have the original delicate line of the fabric. The collage effect is deliberately rough, with extra limbs left in, this works against the inherit ‘pretty’ and graceful qualities of the billowing fabric and creates odd tensions that the viewers eye jumps between. I like how when the body is chopped up in this way, you can distort it any way you like, adding height, adding limbs, in some of the pictures there is not a clear up or down. The bodies proportions and orientation begins to get lost in the collage but we still easily recognize it as bodily.



Zach Gold
Issey Miyake

ZachGold _ Issey Miyake from zach gold on Vimeo.

Zach Gold
String Theory

Zach Gold -String Theory from zach gold on Vimeo.

Yoann Lemoine
Woodkid – Iron

Woodkid – Iron from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Yoann Lemoine
Light – Vogue Italia

LIGHTS – Directed by Yoann Lemoine from Yoann Lemoine on Vimeo.

Nick Knight
Tribute to Alexander McQueen – Music: Bjork

Tribute to Alexander McQueen by Nick Knight, music by Björk from SHOWstudio on Vimeo.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/narrative
Narrative … a spoken or written account of connected events; a story
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/theme
Theme … an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature