Process

Body Type Analysis

This project was initiated as a request from Swann to practice her modeling and she allowed me to have full creative liberty over the direction of the shoot. With her objective in mind, I wanted to style her in a way that could convey what I had in mind, while highlighting her best features and flattering her body type.

Theme and Style Direction

When we initiated this project, I only had a few weeks to plan everything out. Creative liberty was both a blessing and a curse, as I could do anything I envisioned, but I had no guidance. I decided to pull inspiration from the feelings I was experienceing at that time and convey a story exploring the nuances naivety and innocence.

I link innocence with childhood — gentle and and full of wonder. When I think of these things, I remember the small delights I had as a little girl, such as watering flowers, drawing with cute stationary, and socks with pretty colours.

I didn’t want to break the bank, so I did my best to be resourceful and use what I owned. To stay in line with the theme of this shoot, there were key elements that had to be present in the final look: ruffles and patent shoes. I did not own some of the things I envisioned for this look, so I borrowed shoes from a friend and made a collar accessory to tie everything together.

Garment Consruction and Styling

To complete the look, I brainstormed options for a collar accessory through iterative sketching and draping. Using fabric I already owned, I began to mix and match colour options. In the end, I opted for a triangular-shaped collar made of baby pink organza to match the green of the sweater and the creamy pastels in the dress. I chose a triangular shape as I didn’t want the collar to overwhelm the proportions of the sweater and the dress when worn.

Shoot day!

On Set, and Post-Production

As this project was a spontaneous one, the choices for hair and make-up were made on the fly. Since I knew I wanted a feeling of child-like innocence, I chose a make-up look that would enhance Swann’s youthfulness and fixed her hair in a way that seemed doll like. We then proceeded to take the photos, where posing and facial expressions were guided to help bring the feeling to life.

After these photos were completed, I took a step back to process what I had just created. Like an artist who takes a break from their painting, I had done the same with this project. Since there was no set plan for this shoot but much meaning attached to it, I let myself sit with the photos and figure out how I wanted to present them.

To convey the feeling I wanted, I channeled the kid in me and let myself play with physical media. I printed out the photos on lined paper and got to work with collaging. Afterwards, I snapped photos of the collages and scanned the prints to edit further in Adobe Photoshop. In Photoshop, the layout was finalized, edges were cleaned, and the colours were refined, ultimately bringing the story to life.