Vogue

Vogue is an American made, monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine, that covers topics across couture, fashion, beauty, culture, styling and the runway. First issued in 1892, founded on December 17th of the same year, Vogue is now published world wide, and is known as one of the biggest publishers in the world.

Vogue magazines are comprised of a range of editorial and campaign imagery from all kinds of designer brands and houses, from fashion, to fragrance and beauty. Although each issue also includes many articles, on a range of different topics, Vogue is essentially a catalog of the latest editorial and campaign imagery, making it the perfect source of inspiration for creatives like myself.

Although not very far fetched, my new years resolution this year was to buy and read every issue of vogue, to broaden my research sources, and expand my knowledge on fashion and editorial beauty. Since January, I have succeeded… so far, in collecting each issue.

As part of my research, I carefully explored each issue, to identify any images that may help to inspire my hair, makeup and costume designs, or accessories, posing, and backgrounds for the photography of my work. I have included images below of some pages that stood out to me.

These images have all been found within Vogue magazines, issued between January and May, of 2023. They all have provided inspiration towards my hair, makeup and costume designs, or inspired my staging and posing for the photographing of my final looks.

Hair

The images above have hugely helped to inspire some of the hair styles I intend to include within my final designs. The posing of the first image, along with the hair style itself, helps to create a really sharp, exaggerated look. I love the effect this creates and am really wanting to create something similar within one of my looks, by taking inspiration from the look itself, as well as the posing.

The second and third images, use elevated hair styling methods to create an over the top finish. To me, these styles create a sense of an issue that is out of control. I feel this would be a great way to convey certain symptoms and disorders within one of my looks. Furthermore, both of these images use a similar posing technique. The hunched over posture makes it seem as if the hair creation is heavy. This could help me portray the feeling of being weighed down, which is a term that is often used to describe the symptoms of mental health disorders.

Make-up

The dramatic, dark, and imperfect make-up looks created within these images have helped me generate ideas for my make-up designs. The combination of dark, graphic eyes and lips, on a smooth, light base makeup, create a really effective dark and grunge feel within the overall look. This is something I am wanting to create within my work, so can use these images as inspiration in order to create a similar feel.

Costume

As shown in the images above, the use of rough, and layered textures creates an extremely dramatic effect. Therefore, I will ensure to use dark, rough, and layered materials within my final imagery, to create the desired, dark and memorable effect.

Black and white

Although I will not be able to use this technique in all of my looks, as I must be able to show off my make-up creation to its fullest potential, I really like the effect created within these black and white images. Therefore, I intend to experiment with black and white filtering during my image experimentation process.

Posing

The images above are just a few of the images from this selection that have inspired the posing I would like to experiment with during my final imagery. I feel these poses could be used to accurately represent how it may feel to be a victim of a mental health disorder, or how powerful a mental health disorder may feel if they were a person.

Presentation

These images helped me begin to consider how I may present my final image collection. I love the effect that is created within the collage of the first image, and feel I may be bale to covey a strong message if I was to create a similar finish for one of my designs. I could surround the head shot of my image, with titles, quotes or imagery relating to that specific disorder. Additionally, I could create a grid format, as shown in the second image, to present all of my looks together, in one image. I will ensure to try both of these effects during my image experimentation progress.