Blog 3 – Project outcomes and personal development
Being able to accept failure and imperfection is crucial and during these past few weeks, on the make up breakdown classes, we converted those characteristics into something creative and fascinating.
The first weeks were based on techniques, such as color correction, contouring and smokey eyes. Our first creative project was focused on the fashion mistake and fashion imperfection. On the fashion imperfection one I directed my research on the need of looking perfect, almost like a realistic painting through plastic surgery. For this look I painted my face with acrylic paint and used scoth tape all over the edges of my face in order to achieve the plastic surgeries’ features. On the fashion mistake look I focused on the consumerism we live in, so I recycled a Zara and Zadig & Voltaire tags, as a way of sustainability, and used rubber bands to secure them onto my face.
I wanted my final look to be based on iconic and groundbreaking moments that happened on the fashion world since these occasions were once considered as mistakes or even something imperfect. I focused my research on three impactful fashion characteristics: runway shows, photography and campaigns. For the runway show, I used the Alexander McQueen’s AW 09’ Ready to Wear and the SS 98’ shows as a reference. On the photography department, Guy Bourdin was my choice as he was one of the biggest names on the fashion photography world due to the fact that he created narratives through photography being provocative, dramatic and ahead of his time. The campaign I chose was the Marc Jacobs’ 08’ campaign with Victoria Beckham. This campaign was shot by Juergen Teller and he converted the model into a product, creating a statement.
The final look became a narrative through groundbreaking moments in fashion. It shows what Marc Jacobs once hided, on the Marc Jacobs SS 08’ campaign. It shows the head inside its bag, the face of the product, the assumed ‘mistake’. I recreated the photo, hiding my body inside the bag, only showing my head and the shoes that were not hided on the campaign. My red lips are blurred and the shoe made my lipstick go all the way into the edge of my face creating the illusion as if I was kissing the high heel and it got dragged by someone else, taking away the accessory that is connected to the consumerism, the mistake.
Failure will never be a dreadful thing as long as we are able to turn it into something better and that is not only what I did in my final look, but also what Alexander McQueen, Guy Bourdin and Juergen Teller did. In order to achieve success they failed, they understood humanity and everyone’s values, and turned their mistakes into graceful achievements. Overall I grew up as a person and have started to stare at challenges as something exciting instead of being afraid to fail. As Alexander McQueen once said: ‘’You can only go forward by making mistakes’’.