2008-2009 Assignments Analysed - 5
Fifth and final analysis of last year's assignments, so bravely taken on by students up and down the country.
5. A Fashion Publication – The Draping Journal
The Brief
The industry standard trade publication, The Draping Journal is running a piece titled “Death of the Sweatshop”. The article discusses the rise in bespoke and made-to-measure clothing, at the expense of mass-produced garments, despite current economic conditions. The art director had commissioned someone to shoot an elaborate studio still life, but will be quite content with a fashion shot, or even a reportage/documentary shot if it fits the bill.
Analysis
The final brief was kind of a combination of the 2 previous pairs of briefs - there was a broad range of options in how it could be shot, plus an important editorial angle, but it could also have easily been shot relatively simply (but carefully) with a few fashion pics. We were aware that this would be quite a popular choice, as lots of students seem to be into fashion. Fools - there's no money in it you know! You'll end up working for egomaniacs for no money at all!
Successful Entries:
People who got across the central idea of the rise of bespoke and made to measure as opposed to mass produced clothes. Probably the best we saw were the few studio shoots who used well made clothes, and shot details rather than wider shots - this sort of thing instantly gets across the idea of quality as opposed to mass market.
People who made good use of what they found. Lots of folk headed to the nearest tailors and started blasting away, but the best shots were the ones who got there and stopped for a minute and thought about what they were doing. Usually this resulted in some very good close up shots that had a real bespoke feel to them.
Not So Successful Entries:
People who just shot an attractive friend of theirs in some clothes they happened to own - pretty much all of which were almost certainly produced in some sweatshop or other. This rather misses the point, and is a bit of a cop-out.
People who missed the editorial angle - there were quite a few shots of just sewing machines, or wide shots of shops with suits in. In the context of the whole article a shot like this might work, but they don't convey the idea of "made to measure" as clearly as a detail does.
Sloppy technical execution - common to all the briefs, but when you compare high-end fashion stuff to what you can produce in a couple of hours with almost no hair and make-up/styling etc, it soon becomes apparent how vast the gulf between them is. Better to stick to something safe and simple like detail shots, than attempt to beat Mario Testicles at his own
Other briefs: 1. Nearly New Musical Express; 2. The Day Before Monday Magazine; 3. The Economalist; 4. The Timely Educational Supplement; 5. The Draping Journal.
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